M4

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the funding of an M4 relief road.

David Jones: I have regular discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), on a range of issues including the funding of an M4 relief road. The Chancellor and I have both made clear the importance with which we view this project, and we are continuing to work with the Welsh Government to progress it.

Crime: Industrial Estates

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research her Department has undertaken into the prevalence of crime on industrial estates.

Jeremy Browne: Findings from the 2012 Commercial Victimisation Survey show that around 37% of business premises on industrial estates in the sectors surveyed had experienced at least one incident of crime in the last 12 months. For comparison, across all the premises in the sectors surveyed, 46% of businesses had experienced at least one incident of crime in the last 12 months.
	The 2012 Commercial Victimisation Survey provides information on crimes committed against businesses in England and Wales. The survey covered premises in four sectors; wholesale and retail, manufacturing, accommodation and food services, and transportation and storage. The findings of the survey are available online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/147935/crime-business-prem-2012-pdf.pdf

Families: Disadvantaged

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many families have received an intervention from the Troubled Families programme.

Brandon Lewis: In March, my Department published information on the Troubled Families programme, capturing the progress made by each local authority, including the number of families that were being worked with at 31 December 2012 and the number of families turned around at 21 January 2013. This information is available on the Department's website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/troubled-families-programme-progress-by-december-2012
	Local authorities submitted their most recent Troubled Families programme progress figures to my Department in early April. This information, including the number of troubled families with whom local authorities are working, is currently being analysed and will be published shortly.

Housing: Cooperatives

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to increase the number of housing co-operatives in the UK;
	(2)  what financial support his Department makes available for housing co-operatives;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the numbers of housing co-operatives in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland.

Mark Prisk: This Government supports the spread of strong, financially robust and democratically accountable housing co-operatives.
	The Department for Communities and Local Government does not hold a central register of housing co-operatives in the UK or Scotland. There are currently over 200 housing co-operatives in England registered with the Homes and Communities Agency as providers of affordable housing.
	Housing co-operatives that are registered with the Homes and Communities Agency may be eligible to bid for funding through the Affordable Homes Guarantee, Build to Rent and Custom Build programmes. Funding was also available to Community and Voluntary organisations, which include housing co-operatives, to bring empty homes back into use as affordable housing, as well as from the community led element of the Affordable Homes Programme.
	More broadly, my Department, through the Homes and Communities Agency, continues to engage with the community led sector, including the Confederation of Cooperative Housing, to support them with their plans to expand the sector.

Social Rented Housing: EU Nationals

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reasons an EEA national exercising their right to freedom of movement as a self-sufficient person may (a) need and (b) be entitled to social housing.

Mark Prisk: There is no entitlement to social housing.
	European economic area nationals who have a right to reside in the UK on the basis that they are self-sufficient are eligible for social housing, if they are habitually resident in the common travel area (the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland). To be considered self-sufficient, a person must have (i) sufficient resources not to become a burden on the social assistance system of the UK and (ii) comprehensive sickness insurance cover in the UK.
	To be allocated social housing an eligible applicant must also meet the local authority's own qualification criteria and have sufficient priority under the local authority's allocation scheme.
	An allocation scheme must be framed to ensure that certain categories of people are given 'reasonable preference' for social housing, because they have an identified housing need, including people who are homeless, overcrowded households, and people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds.
	The Government want to tackle the widespread perception that the way social housing is allocated is unfair and favours foreign migrants over local people and the armed forces.
	In 2010-11, one in six existing social housing tenants in London were not British or Irish nationals and, across England in 2011-12, almost one in 10 social lettings made to tenants new to social housing were to non-United Kingdom nationals.
	That is why we have announced our intention to introduce new statutory guidance to ensure that local authorities amend their allocation policies so that only those with a well-established local residency and local connections are able to go on the waiting list and qualify for a taxpayer-funded social home. Councils will be required to make exceptions to support members of the armed forces who apply for housing, who may not have established local residency due to the nature of their work.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tough-new-housing-rules-to-control-immigration

Light Dues

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what subsidy the Commissioners of Irish Lights in the Irish Republic received from levies paid by ships calling at UK ports in the last financial year;
	(2)  what proportion of light dues payments were received from fishing fleets in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) the Irish Republic in each of the last three years.

Stephen Hammond: The Commissioners of Irish Lights' work in the Republic of Ireland continues to be funded under a 1985 cost apportionment agreement. The accounts for the 2012-13 financial year are not yet available. In 2011-12, £10.6 million of the Commissioners of Irish Lights' costs in the Republic of Ireland was funded from light dues paid by ships calling at UK ports
	In 2010, the Irish and UK governments reached agreement that the Commissioners' work in the Republic of Ireland would be funded from sources there by 2015-16.
	Light dues receipts are not collected on a country basis with the exception of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but by individual lighthouse authority for the regions for which they are responsible. The following tables provide light dues revenue collection detail by lighthouse authority, as well as those for fishing vessels and their proportions.
	
		
			  Light dues (£) Fishing vessel payments (£) Proportion of payments received for fishing vessel as a percentage 
			 2012-13    
			 Trinity House 79,407,252 161,792 0.2 
			 Northern Lighthouse Board 6,262,977 187,947 3.0 
			 Commissioners of Irish Lights NI 1,043,468 43,724 4.2 
			 Commissioners of Irish Lights RoI 3,822,878 — 0 
			 Total 90,536,574 393,463 0.4 
			     
			 2011-12    
			 Trinity House 81,899,696 168,021 0.2 
			 Northern Lighthouse Board 5,855,820 192,893 3.3 
			 Commissioners of Irish Lights NI 798,264 42,191 5.3 
			 Commissioners of Irish Lights RoI 3,871,331 — 0 
			 Total 92,425,111 403,105 0.4 
			     
			 2010-11    
			 Trinity House 76,181,823 168,081 0.2 
			 Northern Lighthouse Board 6,991,810 214,760 3.1 
			 Commissioners of Irish Lights NI 806,358 42,780 5.3 
			 Commissioners of Irish Lights RoI 3,794,675 — 0 
			 Total 87,774,666 425,620 0.5

Motor Vehicles: Testing

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the Government's policy is on EU proposals for harmonised roadworthiness testing.

Stephen Hammond: The UK Government has agreed to a General Approach in the Council of the European Union to more harmonised periodic testing proposals. Negotiations are continuing to secure an effective approach which avoids unnecessary and costly burdens on UK businesses and motorists. I would also refer my hon. Friend to my written ministerial statements to the House of 18 December 2012, Official Report, columns 96-98WS, and 7 January 2013, Official Report, columns 10-12WS.

Motorcycles

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will take steps to promote motorcycling in his transport policy framework as a means of reducing congestion and emissions.

Stephen Hammond: The Government is neutral on whether or not people should take up motorcycling. We recognise that it is a valid form of transport, but we are also aware that motorcyclists account for just 1% of the traffic on our roads, but in 2012, they accounted for 19% of deaths. Reducing the number of motorcyclists killed is a key priority and we aim to do this by creating better and safer conditions for those who choose to ride.

Climate Change

Peter Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change in his Department's November 2011 paper entitled Estimated impacts of energy and climate change policies on energy prices and bills 2012, what value of costs of climate change policies in 2011 and 2020 will be attributed to (a) household energy bills, (b) business energy bills and (c) general taxpayers.

Gregory Barker: DECC's latest assessment of the impact of energy and climate change policies on energy prices and bills was published on 27 March 2013 and is available online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills
	This shows that the net impact of policies is to help households on average save money on their energy bills, compared to what they would be paying in the absence of these policies. The total monetary savings from policies which help households save energy are expected to more than offset the cost of investing in new capacity and efficiency.
	The impacts of policies on energy prices are presented in tables E1-E3 of Annex E of the report. A number of government policies place the obligation of financing the policies onto energy companies, which is then passed onto the consumer. It is up to individual energy companies to decide how to share the costs among their customers. The simplifying assumption used for DECC's analysis is that costs are spread evenly over each unit of energy consumption that creates a liability for these costs for energy suppliers.
	The analysis assumes that the total support costs of the renewables obligation, small-scale feed-in tariffs and electricity market reform, and the total costs of the EU ETS and carbon price floor are paid around one-third by households and two-thirds by non-domestic consumers—reflecting their respective shares of total electricity consumption. The support costs of the energy company obligation and warm home discount and the supplier costs of smart meters and better billing are assumed to only be paid by household energy consumes—reflecting that these policies are focused on helping households improve their energy efficiency. The costs of the climate change levy and the CRC energy efficiency scheme are only paid by the relevant non-domestic consumers captured by the eligibility criteria for these policies.
	In addition there are a number of policies funded through general taxation, most notably the renewable heat incentive and up to £1 billion capital funding available for the UK CCS commercialisation competition.

Heating

Martin Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of reports by the Climate Change Committee which suggest that 2.5 million heat pumps will need to be installed by 2025 and seven million by 2030 if the UK is to meet the fourth carbon budget.

Gregory Barker: On 26 March, the Department published ‘The Future of Heating: Meeting the Challenge’ which sets out Government's approach to reducing carbon emissions from heating and cooling in the decades to come. The main document is supplemented by an Evidence Annex which updates the 2050 modelling and explains various scenarios for low carbon heating. These documents confirm the important role that heat pumps are likely to play, alongside other technologies, in supplying low carbon heat in buildings, including within individual homes and as sources of heat for low carbon heat networks. The documents are available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-future-of-heating-meeting-the-challenge

Heating

Martin Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) investment, (b) jobs, (c) taxation and (d) the decarbonisation of residential heating of the introduction of the requirement for high efficiency gas and oil boilers when replacing residential heating systems; what evaluation he has undertaken to establish whether similar policies could be used to accelerate the deployment of residential heat pumps; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: On 26 March, the Department published ‘The Future of Heating: Meeting the challenge’ which sets out the Government's approach to reducing carbon emissions from heating and cooling in the decades to come. Chapter 3 of the document deals with heat and cooling for buildings including the impact of existing regulatory requirements, and policy options for the future. The document is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-future-of-heating-meeting-the-challenge

Microgeneration

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the cost to small businesses of achieving accreditation by the Microgeneration Certification scheme.

Gregory Barker: The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) is an industry led scheme that provides consumer protection and aims to drive improvements in industry standards for the microgeneration sector. There are a number of certification bodies accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, operating in a competitive market, which offer certification services to small businesses. MCS has the license agreement with the certification bodies to provide this service. Certification costs will differ depending on specific circumstances such as the way the business is organised and the competency of installers.
	Such a scheme is essential to tackle mis-selling in a sector where many consumers are unfamiliar with renewable and low carbon heating and electricity generating systems and the Government provides financial incentives.

United Arab Emirates

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will publish the cost of (a) travel and (b) accommodation for all ministerial visits to the UAE since May 2010; and who funded each such aspect of each visit.

Gregory Barker: Details of all overseas visits undertaken by Ministers are published on a quarterly basis on the Gov UK website. The Department's ministerial travel costs are borne by the Department.
	All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-of-energy-climate-change&publication_type=transparency-data

Food: Prices

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect of financial speculation on global food prices.

Justine Greening: The coalition Government recognises the damaging impact of high food prices on consumers in developing countries. Based on our continued assessment of the evidence, we believe that changes in supply and demand, rather than speculation, are the main factors behind the recent spikes in global food prices.

Armed Forces: Firearms

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what steps he has taken to introduce firearms amnesties for service personnel since the case of Sergeant Nightingale; what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of such amnesties; whether Sergeant Nightingale will be permitted to benefit from such amnesties; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the firearms amnesties introduced for serving members of the armed forces since the Sergeant Nightingale case; whether it will be open to Sergeant Nightingale to make use of such amnesties; and whether the existence of such amnesties will be a factor in the assessment of the public interest of re-trying Sergeant Nightingale.

Mark Francois: holding answer 25 March 2013
	The Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has made it clear he thought an amnesty should be looked at. The Department is currently looking into it.

Armed Forces: Qualifications

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the minimum educational qualifications are for joining each (a) branch and (b) trade of the armed forces.

Mark Francois: holding answer 18 April 2013
	The following information shows the minimum educational qualifications for joining each branch and trade of the armed forces. Where reference to GCSEs is stated, equivalent qualifications are acceptable.
	Generally, Royal Navy officers require five GCSEs and 180 UCAS points; additionally engineer officers require appropriate BEng, MEng, IET, CEng or IENG qualifications. Additional qualifications are required for the officers detailed in the following table.
	
		
			 Officers Minimum qualification 
			 Warfare officer (Hydrographer and Met) A level in Maths, Physics or Chemistry. 
			 Dental officer Qualified dentist (Cadetships available for last three years). 
			 Medical officer Qualified from medical school (Cadetships available for last three years). 
			 Nursing officer RGN qualified with two years experience. 
			 Environmental health officer EHO qualified and registered. 
			 Chaplain Ordained chaplain. 
		
	
	Generally, for Royal Navy Ratings there is no minimum educational qualifications requirement but they require a pass at the Recruiting Test to the required level for their branch of choice. Exceptions are detailed in the following table.
	
		
			 Ratings Minimum qualification 
			 Aircraft controller Two GCSEs 
			 Dental nurse/medical assistant Two GCSEs 
			 Dental hygienist Diploma/Certificate in oral hygiene—GDC registered 
			 Medical technician (radiographer) Five GCSEs + BSC in diagnostic radiography—HPC member 
			 Communications technician Two GCSEs 
			 Naval nurse (qualified) Relevant degree and NMC qualification number 
			 Naval nurse (student) 280 UCAS points 
			 Musician Musical competency in mainstream instrument 
		
	
	Generally, Army officers must achieve GCSE/SCE in English Language, Maths, a science or foreign language. They must achieve at least 35 ALIS points at GCSE from their best seven subjects, and have scored a minimum of 240 UCAS points at A level or equivalent from at least two passes.
	Additional qualifications are required for the officers detailed in the following table.
	
		
			  Qualification 
			 Engineer officers Degree level qualifications in CEng, Mech Eng or Electrical Eng or Chartered Engineering status 
			 Signals Degree in Telecoms, Electronic software, Computer Sciences, IT, IS, Maths, Physics, Comms and IS 
			 Legal officer 2:1 Law degree or equivalent, fully qualified barrister, solicitor or Scottish advocate, completed pupillage, solicitors to have completed training contract 
			 Nursing officer Diploma or BSc in either adult or mental health, registered and with two years post registration experience 
			 Chaplain Ordained with two or three years experience (TA or Regular) 
			 Dental officer Degree in dentistry, qualified dentist, GDC registered 
			 Medical officer Qualified and specialised—GMC registered 
			 Environmental health officer EHO qualified and registered 
			 Pharmacy officer Degree or graduate diploma in pharmacy and registered 
			 Physiotherapist Qualified and registered 
			 Radiologist Diploma or degree in diagnostic radiography and registered 
			 Veterinary officer Degree and registration 
		
	
	Generally, Army other ranks require no educational qualification but recruits must pass the Recruiting Test (BARB) to a level commensurate with their branch of choice. Exceptions are as follows:
	
		
			  Qualification 
			 Combat HR specialists GCSE or Level 1 Basic Skills in English and Maths or Maths and a Science 
			 Royal military police GCSEs in English and Maths at Grade C or above 
			 Musician Musical competency in one mainstream instrument 
			 Operator military intelligence Five GCSE from Maths, English or mainstream subjects 
			 Linguist GCSE in English Language plus four others 
			 Nurse (qualified) Diploma or BSc and registered 
			 Nurse (student) Five GCSE including English, Maths and a science. 280 UCAS points 
			 Healthcare assistant Gained or working towards NVQ2 in Care 
			 Operating department practitioner (Regular) 200 UCAS points for university entry 
			 Operating department practitioner (TA) NVQ level 3 or Dip HE and registration with HPC 
			 Radiographer Diploma or BSc in diagnostic radiography and registered 
			 Biomedical scientist (Regular) 260 UCAS points and human sciences background 
			 Biomedical scientist (TA) Diploma or BSc in biomedical services and registered 
			 Pharmacy technician (Regular) Four GCSEs including English, Maths and two sciences 
			 Pharmacy technician (TA) BTech or National Certificate and NVQ level 3 in pharmacy 
			 Veterinary technician Diploma or BSc in veterinary nursing and RVN registered 
			 Dental nurse NEBDN Cert or NVQ level 3 as oral health care worker 
			 Environmental health technician Four GCSEs including English, Maths and two sciences 
		
	
	
		
			 Physiotherapist Qualified and registered 
			 Paramedic (TA) Qualified, practising and registered 
		
	
	All RAF officers require five GCSEs and two A levels. Additional qualifications are required for the officers as follows:
	
		
			  Qualification 
			 Aero systems/communications electrical engineer BEng in appropriate subject 
			 Medical/dentist/nursing Professionally qualified 
			 Medical support officer Registered as a physiotherapist 
			 Chaplain Ordained 
			 Legal Member of the English/Scottish/NI Bar or an admitted solicitor 
		
	
	All airmen/airwomen require a suitable pass in the Recruit Test applicable to their
	choice of trade. Additionally, the following apply:
	
		
			  Qualification 
			 All trades (excluding RAF Gunner) Two GCSEs 
			 Air cartographer Three GCSEs (third in ICT or equivalent) 
			 Aircraft/weapon/ICT/general technicians Three GCSEs (third in a science/technology based subject) 
			 Int analyst/pharmacy technician Four GCSEs 
			 Musician Two GCSEs and Grade 8 ABRSM 
			 Qualified chef Two GCSEs and CGLI/OND/TEC/BTEC/PCD/NVQ 2 
			 Nurse RGN/NMC 
			 Student nurse/environmental health technician/radiographer Five GCSEs plus 280 UCAS points 
			 Biomedical scientist Five GCSEs plus two A levels. 
			 Operating department practitioner Three GCSEs and two A levels

HMS Victory

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  further to his Answer of 13 March 2013, Official Report, column 644W, on HMS Victory, whether he has taken expert advice in order to ascertain whether the skull from HMS Victory 1744 recently shown on television was exposed by human excavation of the seabed;
	(2)  whether his Department gave permission for excavation of HMS Victory 1744; and what assessment he has made of whether there has been any breach of the Deed of Gift of the wreck.

Mark Francois: The Deed of Gift signed on 12 January 2012 forms the current agreement between the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Maritime Heritage Foundation (MHF) for management of the site of the wreck of HMS Victory 1744.
	Odyssey Marine Exploration (OME) has conducted regular site surveys since it discovered the wreck in 2008. No specific permission was sought from the MOD before OME revisited the site in summer 2012.
	On 13 March 2013 the expert panel discussed the television images of the skull in advance of OME's report of last summer's activity, which the Government expects to receive shortly as part of MHFs revised management plan and response to the key management principles.
	No determination has been made on whether there has been any breach of the Deed of Gift. The expert panel will review the MHF submission and provide its advice to the Government through the advisory group.

British Overseas Territories

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2012, Official Report, column 753W, on British Overseas Territories, which of the Overseas Territories has the service of a patrol vessel capable of enforcement against illegal and unregulated fishing to the edge of their exclusive economic zone; and, in each such territory, on how many days enforcement has taken place in each of the last five years.

Mark Simmonds: The Falklands Island Government has one such patrol vessel. Vessel deployments on enforcement operations for the last five years are as follows:
	
		
			  Days 
			 2012 294 
			 2011 251 
			 2010 274 
			 2009 190 
			 2008 204 
		
	
	The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands operates one such patrol vessel. Deployments over the last five years are as follows:
	
		
			  Days 
			 2012 205 
			 2011 227 
			 2010 210 
			 2009 220 
			 2008 193 
		
	
	The British Indian Ocean Territory has one such vessel which patrols the marine protected area. Enforcement deployments for the previous five years are:
	
		
			  Days 
			 2012 204 
			 2011 207 
			 2010 259 
			 2009 240 
			 2008 204 
		
	
	The Government of Grand Cayman has three vessels capable of enforcement against illegal, unreported and unregulated vessels. Patrols are carried out daily within a limited area.
	The Territories of Ascension Island, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha do not have the routine services of a patrol vessel. However, in 2010 a dedicated patrol vessel was deployed in these territories for 12 days, six days and nine days respectively.

British Overseas Territories

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to visit British Overseas Territories in the next 12 months.

Mark Simmonds: It is long standing policy not to confirm ministerial travel plans significantly in advance. Ministers remain committed to strengthening the UK's relationships with the Overseas Territories as set out in last year's White Paper, and will travel in support of that objective.

China

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the government of the People's Republic of China on organ harvesting practices in that country.

Hugo Swire: The British Government is aware of these claims, and our embassy in Beijing has raised this with the Chinese Government. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly denied the allegations. The Chinese Government has also assured us that organs from executed prisoners will only be used for transplantation with their consent.
	China has also taken significant legislative action to regulate the use of donated organs. In May 2007, the Regulation on Human Organ Transplantation came into force, banning organ trading, the removal of a person's organs without their prior written consent, and the transplantation of organs from living donors, except to blood relatives. In 2011, an amendment to China's criminal law specified, for the first time, criminal penalties for offences related to the forced removal or trafficking of human organs.
	In March 2012, the Chinese Government announced plans to phase out the use of organs for transplant from executed prisoners within the next five years and to create a national organ donation system. We welcome these steps toward regulating transplantation in line with international standards.
	We will continue to raise these concerns, and to urge the Chinese authorities to grant permission for the relevant UN Special Procedures Rapporteurs to visit China to make an independent assessment of the situation regarding the treatment of detainees, during bilateral talks with the Chinese Government, including during the next UK-China Human Rights Dialogue. We have proposed dates for the next Dialogue to the Chinese but have not yet received a positive response.

Henderson Island

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the rat infestation on Henderson Island.

Mark Simmonds: Responsibility for environmental issues is devolved to the Governments of the Overseas Territories. However the UK Government is committed to working closely with Territory Governments and partner organisations to provide support and assistance in areas where they need help.
	The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has been closely monitoring the situation on Henderson Island following the unsuccessful 2011 eradication attempt. A further research trip, funded by the Darwin Initiative, is planned for July and August. The near removal of rats from the island has allowed many of Henderson's birds to significantly increase their populations and the RSPB are in discussion with the Territory on next steps for Pitcairn and Henderson.

Israel

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which Israeli water companies participated in the UK Israel Tech Hub mission to the UK in April 2013; and what the main objectives of the mission were.

Alistair Burt: The UK Israel Tech Hub issued a press release on 5 March listing the participating Israeli companies:
	http://www.post.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=305353
	The main objectives of the mission were:
	To help British infrastructure companies gain a competitive advantage by identifying water technology solutions from Israel to integrate into their UK and global projects; to position the UK as a destination of choice for Israeli companies and encourage partnerships and inward investment to the UK.
	Water technology is one of the priority sectors of the UK Israel Tech Hub, a team based at the British embassy in Israel tasked with building technology partnerships between the two countries. The economic logic of a UK—Israel partnership in water is compelling. Israeli water technology can reach new markets by partnering with leading British companies who have expertise in delivering major infrastructure projects worldwide. And those British companies can gain a global competitive advantage from partnering with Israeli water companies who have world-beating expertise in overcoming water scarcity through innovation.
	The fair and effective distribution of shared water resources across the Middle East is of great concern to us. These resources are limited and therefore require the effective co-operation from all parties to manage them in such a manner that ensures there will be enough for all.
	Although this issue transcends the Arab-Israeli conflict, it is essential that Israel and the Palestinians discuss this issue and ensure that there is a just solution on shared water resources as part of any final status agreement.

Overseas Aid

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which projects administered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office were Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) attributable in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012; and which projects will be ODA attributable in 2013.

David Lidington: We are committed to ensuring that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) meets the standards of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). and to making it easier for people here at home and in developing countries to find, understand and analyse data on FCO and British Council ODA spend, including at the project level.
	Project level data for FCO ODA in 2010 has been published on the OECD website at:
	http://www.oecd.org/dac/peer-reviews/45519815.pdf
	Detailed information about FCO ODA activity in 2011-12 can be found on the FCO website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-office/series/overseas-development-aid-oda-information
	This was published on 27 March 2013 along with our Implementation Plan to ensure the publication of FCO ODA data meets IATI standards.
	Information on 2012-13 ODA projects is scheduled for publication by 30 June 2013. 2013-14 information will be published next year.

Pakistan

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will raise the issue of the use of blasphemy laws in Pakistan when he next meets Pakistani Government officials; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The British Government regularly raises the issue of the blasphemy laws, and their misuse against both Muslims and religious minorities, with the authorities in Pakistan. We will continue to raise this subject with Pakistan’s new government following the elections in May.
	The issue is covered in the FCO’s annual human rights report, published on Monday 15 April, so we will not be making a statement.

Palestinians

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the effects of the economic restrictions imposed by the Israeli Government on the (a) competitiveness of the Palestinian economy, (b) productivity of the Palestinian agricultural and manufacturing sectors, (c) employability of the Palestinian workforce and (d) share of exports in the Palestinian economy.

Alistair Burt: The Government continues to assess that Israeli restrictions on movement and access in the West Bank and Gaza are the single biggest obstacle to trade and economic development, and hence one of the most important causes of the current financial difficulties of the Palestinian Authority. This is in line with the assessment of the World Bank's Economic Monitoring Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) on 19 March 2013. An easing of these restrictions is vital for the Palestinian economy to flourish. As the International Monetary Fund's report to the AHLC noted, the failure to make more progress in reducing restrictions has led to a rise in unemployment (up to 22.9% in the last quarter of 2012 from 21.0% during the same period in 2011), a decline in public services and the halving of growth in the West Bank and Gaza (from 12.2% in 2011 to 6.0% in 2012). Exports of goods are 7% of gross domestic product—among the lowest in the world.
	The result is harm to the long-term competitiveness of the Palestinian economy. We continue to lobby the Israeli Government to ease its restrictions on movement and access. We want to see increased movement of goods between the West Bank, Gaza, Israel and beyond.

Pitcairn Islands

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 19 March 2013, Official Report, column 608W, on Pitcairn Islands, when he intends to announce the Government's plans for establishing a marine protected area around the Pitcairn Islands.

Mark Simmonds: We are working with the Pitcairn Island Council and interested partner organisations to explore and develop the various options for marine protection around Pitcairn. This is a complex issue requiring thorough analysis of a range of environmental and economic issues before a decision can be taken. The Government has shown a clear commitment to marine protection and is committed to working with Overseas Territories to ensure the sustainable management of their unique environmental assets.

Syria

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department is taking to assist in protecting civilians in Aleppo City in Syria.

Alistair Burt: The Syrian Government continues to demonstrate that it is manifestly unwilling to meet its responsibility to protect its civilian population. We are continuing to work with our international partners to increase the pressure on the regime to come to the table, support the opposition as a credible alternative, and address the humanitarian impact of the crisis, including in Aleppo.
	The UK has contributed £141.1 million in humanitarian aid so far. This is funding food, clean drinking water, medical assistance, blankets and shelter for many tens of thousands of people across 14 governorates, including Aleppo. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), announced to Parliament on 6 March 2013 a further £2.7 million of practical support to the National Coalition, which includes providing new types of non-lethal equipment for the protection of civilians, bringing the total support package for FY 2012-13 to £12.1 million.

Tristan Da Cunha

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to safeguard the flora and fauna of Tristan da Cunha.

Mark Simmonds: Responsibility for environmental issues is devolved to the Governments of the Overseas Territories. However the UK Government is committed to working closely with Overseas Territory Governments and partner organisations to provide support and assistance in areas where they need help.
	Tristan da Cunha is home to a number of important and unique habitats, particularly the World Heritage listed sites of Gough and Inaccessible Islands. The Government of Tristan da Cunha takes protection of the environment very seriously. Tristan cooperates with a number of environmental bodies in doing this and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has recently been awarded a £285,000 grant under the Darwin Initiative to conduct further study into the sustainable management of the marine environment and resources of Tristan da Cunha.

Business: Ethnic Groups

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what contact his Office has had with the Department for Communities and Local Government between November 2011 and March 2013 concerning the review that that Department has been conducting into the barriers faced by some black and ethnic minority entrepreneurs in accessing business finance.

Nicholas Clegg: The Deputy Prime Minister's office is in regular contact with the Department for Communities and Local Government about a range of issues.

Lobbying

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on what date the Government will produce a White Paper and draft bill to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists.

Chloe Smith: The Government is committed to introducing a statutory register of lobbyists.
	We will publish details of our revised proposals in due course.

Baroness Thatcher

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what the total cost to public funds was of the funeral of Baroness Thatcher, by category of expenditure;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the total number of (a) staff hours used by and (b) wages claimed by (i) armed forces personnel, (ii) police officers and (iii) other support staff during the preparation and duration of Baroness Thatcher's funeral;

Pamela Nash: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will estimate the total cost to the public purse of the funeral of Baroness Thatcher, taking account of the salaries of public officials attending on the day and those involved in the preparations beforehand.

Francis Maude: The Government is committed to publishing the cost to public funds of Baroness Thatcher's funeral. The costs are currently being collected and will be published in due course.

Charities

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps his Department is taking to encourage charities to bid for Government contracts.

Nick Hurd: As outlined in the Cabinet Office publication, 'Making it easier for civil society to work with the state', this Government is fully committed to opening up public-service contracts to new bidders, including from civil society organisations such as charities.
	In the first instance, we are encouraging charities to bid for Government contracts through providing them with better information.. For example, through the Cabinet Office's Procurement Pipelines we have published £84 billion's worth of Government contracts since November 2011.
	We are also making commissioning more sensitive to the needs and strengths of charities through the Cabinet Office's reforms of Government procurement processes, as well as through its Commissioning Academy.
	We are supporting charities to improve their readiness to bid for and win Government contracts. We are currently running a series of national master-classes on the commercial skills key to successful contract bids. And we are running a £10 million Investment and Contract Readiness Fund which provides professional support for organisations looking to gain more income from contracts.

Civil Servants

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the effect of the threat of job losses and relocation on the morale of the civil service.

Francis Maude: At the time of the last general election this Government inherited what was among the largest budget deficits in the developed world. This Government is taking the difficult, painful decisions to get Britain back on the rise. The civil service must play its part in helping reduce spending.
	Our 2012 People Survey—which listened to the views of almost 300,000 civil servants—shows that, despite the difficult economic circumstances and a tough operating environment, morale has held up. Overall engagement scores are as they were in 2009, and nine-tenths of staff find their work interesting.
	Civil servants should be empowered to deliver the best for Britain. Our Reform Plan—which is based heavily on feedback from civil servants themselves— provides for this with its vision for a more skilled, less bureaucratic, more unified civil service. We will make sure that civil servants have the right skills for tomorrow's world. Despite reforms, employment terms will remain among the best available and we will improve workplaces and IT to make it easier for civil servants to do their job. This will not only make the civil service a better place to work, but will also improve the services we deliver to the public.

Computers

John Redwood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many (a) desktop computers, (b) laptop computers and (c) tablet devices his Department has purchased in the last two years.

Nick Hurd: The Cabinet Office IT services is provided under a HM Treasury legacy contract signed by the previous Administration in 2009. The contract is for five years and includes the provision and maintenance of desktop computers and laptop computers.
	Staff can be provided with a tablet device when there is an appropriate business need. As at 1 March 2013, 18 iPads have been provided.

Dementia

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether his Department has a dementia strategy.

Nick Hurd: The Cabinet Office considers Dementia to be a priority for government. That is why the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health are supporting the Dementia Friends Campaign with a grant of £2.4 million. This is being delivered in partnership with the Alzheimer's society.
	The Dementia Friends campaign aims to train over 6,000 dementia friends' champions who will each recruit and train at least 150 people, resulting in one million dementia friends by 2015. More information can be found here:
	http://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/
	This campaign compliments the Prime Minister's challenge to create more 'Dementia Friendly Communities', which is part of the Alzheimer's Society's five-year strategy, 'Delivering on Dementia'. More information can be found at:
	http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=1843

Electronic Government

John Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2013, Official Report, column 964W, on internet, what steps his Department took to assess the quality and timeliness of the work done by the Government Digital Service.

Nick Hurd: The Government is redesigning its digital services to make them simpler, clearer and faster for users, making them so good that people prefer to use them.
	In April 2012, the Digital Advisory Board was set up to support Government deliver its commitment to provide high-quality public services online by default. The Board, led by the UK Digital Champion, includes digital experts from industry, business and academia. It's role is to work with the Government Digital Service and challenge Government to deliver better services for users.

Government Departments: Procurement

John Woodcock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will publish the current Government Major Projects Portfolio.

Chloe Smith: The Government will publish the list of projects on the Government's Major Projects Portfolio in May 2013.

Government Departments: Subscriptions

Ann McKechin: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much the Government has spent on subscriptions to academic journals published by (a) Reed-Elsevier, (b) Wiley-Blackwell, (c) Springer and (d) other academic publishers in each of the last five years.

Francis Maude: My Department does not hold this information.
	Each Government Department makes its own arrangements for subscriptions to academic journals.

Infant Mortality: Greater London

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will publish infant mortality statistics for (a) Lewisham, Deptford constituency, (b) Lewisham East constituency, (c) Lewisham West constituency, (d) Penge constituency and (e) London for each year since 1987.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson
	.
	Due to the sensitive nature of infant deaths and the risk of identifying individuals, ONS does not publish infant mortality figures for individual parliamentary constituencies. Consequently, figures for the parliamentary constituencies named above cannot be provided.
	Table 1 provides the number of infant deaths in Bromley and Lewisham local authorities (which encompass the parliamentary constituencies for which figures were requested) and London, for deaths registered between 1987 and 2011 (the latest year available).
	Figures for infant mortality in England and Wales are published annually on the ONS website at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/child-mortality-statistics--childhood--infant-and-perinatal/index.html
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of infant deaths in Bromley and Lewisham local authorities and the London region, deaths registered between 1987 and 2011(1,2) 
			 Deaths 
			 Registration year Bromley Lewisham London 
			 1987 29 44 965 
			 1988 33 34 924 
			 1989 16 37 895 
			 1990 24 28 838 
			 1991 23 31 744 
			 1992 18 34 755 
			 1993 22 25 676 
			 1994 29 34 664 
			 1995 13 33 659 
			 1996 17 41 673 
			 1997 19 30 615 
			 1998 16 45 624 
			 1999 13 25 636 
			 2000 16 27 570 
			 2001 11 31 633 
			 2002 14 20 594 
			 2003 17 20 600 
			 2004 18 17 588 
			 2005 10 22 587 
			 2006 13 22 593 
			 2007 10 18 571 
			 2008 12 32 545 
			 2009 12 25 579 
			 2010 12 24 623 
			 2011 8 22 551 
			 (1) Figures for Bromley and Lewisham local authorities and for the London region exclude deaths of non-residents and are based on boundaries as of February 2013. (2 )Figures are based on deaths registered, rather than deaths occurring in the years 1987 to 2011. Further information on registration delays for a range of causes can be found on the ONS website: www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/health-and-life-events/impact-of-registration-delays-on-mortality-statistics/index.html

Ministers: Official Residences

John Mann: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of each residence used by Cabinet Ministers in each of the last three financial years.

Francis Maude: Chequers, Chevening and Dorneywood are not owned by the Government and are run and managed by independent trustees. As was the case under the previous Administration, the Government pays an annual grant in aid to the Chequers Trust, details of which are set out in the Cabinet Office Annual Report. Details on running costs for Downing Street flats are also set out in the Cabinet Office Annual Report.
	No. 1 Carlton Gardens is a matter for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Hillsborough Castle for the Northern Ireland Office.

Oral Questions

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office with reference to the announcement on 28 March 2013 that the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings had been appointed as Minister without Portfolio, whether the Minister will be answering oral questions in the House.

Francis Maude: holding answer 17 April 2013
	Oral questions to Ministers within the Cabinet Office can be put to Cabinet Office Ministers including at Cabinet Office Orals.

Procurement: Department for Work and Pensions

Robert Halfon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if his Department will carry out a value-for-money assessment of the (a) clauses encouraging the hiring of apprentices and (b) other aspects of the Department for Work and Pensions' standard contract introduced in July 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: The Government's prime concern is to drive value for money through its procurement.
	As yet there has been no formal assessment of the apprenticeship clauses in the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) standard contract. The DWP is currently giving consideration to the use and potential cost of a pan-government single supplier registration and data gathering tool, which would support the monitoring and evaluation of this schedule.

Crime: Disability

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how much the Crown Prosecution Service spent on training for its lawyers to identify and prosecute disability hate crime in each of the last five years.

Dominic Grieve: Stopping hate crime and bringing perpetrators to justice is a priority for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The CPS have recorded the following spending on direct costs for prosecuting disability hate crime training during the past four financial years. Expenditure on training for disability hate crime in 2008-09 has not been recorded.
	2009-10: £20,948
	2010-11: £1,450
	2011-12: £2,340
	2012-13: £2,419.
	In addition to this the CPS spent £3,000 in 2011-12 and £3,000 in 2012-13 on conferences for CPS hate crime co-ordinators, which included coverage of disability hate crime.

Crime: Disability

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what training Crown Prosecution Service lawyers have received on identifying and prosecuting disability hate crime.

Dominic Grieve: Stopping hate crime and bringing perpetrators to justice is a priority for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
	The CPS has an online e-learning course titled “Prosecuting Hate Crime”. The course includes the legal guidance on disability hate crime and the identification of such offences, as well as covering more broadly the policies and guidance on the prosecution of all types of hate crime. The course has been undertaken by 2,999 employees since its launch in March/April 2010.
	In December 2011 and November 2012, national conferences were held for the CPS's Hate Crime Co-ordinators. The first focused exclusively on disability hate crime and the second covered the use of special measures, disability hate crime case handling and accurate recording. The co-ordinators were required to cascade the information from the conferences to lawyers in their local areas.
	Local Scrutiny and Involvement Panels (LSIPs) are made up of community representatives and staff. They scrutinise closed hate crime cases in order to provide feedback to enable the CPS (and thus its lawyers) to improve prosecutions in these cases. The mechanism for disseminating the feedback and any related training is determined at local level.
	A range of different training courses on hate crime, including the identification and prosecution of disability hate crime, has also been locally delivered to lawyers within CPS Areas and CPS Direct, according to local training needs. Some of these courses have been accredited for the purpose of Continuing Professional Development.

Criminal Proceedings

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General on how many occasions the Crown Prosecution Service has failed to comply with orders made by the court at a plea and case management hearing or any subsequent hearing regarding service of evidence in each of the last five years.

Dominic Grieve: The CPS implemented changes to the Case Management System (CMS) to enable CPS staff from April 2012 to report on data in relation to managing Judges' directions and applications in respect of finalised cases. The following table sets out the number of Judges’ Orders recorded in the Crown Court for orders concerning the service of evidence.
	
		
			 April 2012 to March 2013 
			  Total directions Directions complied with Directions complied with timeously Directions complied with out of time Directions not complied with 
			 All service of evidence directions 22,260 19,304 12,167 7,137 2,956 
		
	
	No central record of Judges' Orders was maintained prior to April 2012. Therefore obtaining information for periods prior to that time would involve consulting individual case files and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

Criminal Proceedings

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how many times a defendant has been released because a judge has refused to extend the custody time limit in each of the last five years.

Dominic Grieve: A defendant in custody awaiting trial must be released on bail where a court determines that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) or the police have not prepared the case with the necessary diligence and expedition. A defendant must also normally be released where the court is unable to list the case for trial within the statutory time limit. Such releases are always reviewed in conjunction with the police to ensure the safety of anyone affected.
	The CPS does not maintain a central record for all cases where a defendant was released due to a refusal to extend the custody time limit. Such information cannot reasonably be obtained locally or nationally other than by undertaking a manual exercise of reviewing individual file records which would incur a disproportionate cost.
	The CPS has maintained a central record for the last two years for cases where the CPS was primarily responsible for a Judge's refusal to extend a custody time limit. The following table shows, in each of the last two years, the number of defendants released on bail or retained in custody for other reasons:
	
		
			  Bailed Not bailed Total 
			 2011-12 22 6 28 
			 2012-13 8 3 11

Crown Prosecution Service: Logica

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General 
	(1)  what alternative procurement strategies were considered by the Crown Prosecution Service prior to its decision to lease laptops from Logica; and for what reasons these alternatives were rejected;
	(2)  what the cost has been to the Crown Prosecution Service of providing its staff with (a) Logica laptops and (b) associated software, accessories and maintenance; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  how many laptops have been provided to Crown Prosecution Service staff under its contract with Logica to date.

Dominic Grieve: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) awarded a 10-year public finance initiative (PFI) contract to CGI (formerly Logica) on 31 December 2001 for the provision of full. IT services as a managed service. The contract encompasses the supply of infrastructure as well as desk top and mobile IT equipment. The original contract included a provision to extend for up to five years.
	In 2008-09 the ICT Services ‘Beyond 2012 Project’ was established to evaluate and set out the financial and non-financial evaluation of the procurement options, and followed a rigorous CPS internal governance review and approval process.
	In 2009 the CPS board approved the business case and decision to extend the IT managed service contract from 2009 to 2015 based on a full appraisal and assessment of the procurement options available, including alternative providers.
	The option to extend the CGI contract until 31 March 2015 was approved on the basis it was most closely aligned to the delivery of the Department's strategic objectives, and delivered substantial savings between 2012 and 2015 that were unlikely to be achieved from a re-procurement while presenting the lowest risk to business critical service continuity.
	The provision of mobile IT equipment and associated software, security maintenance and support was an integral part of the PFI offer.
	Cost of laptop service
	The following table represents the annual costs of providing the laptop, service to Crown Prosecution Service staff. The cost of the first 100 laptops is part of a general fixed charge and is not separately distinguishable. The costs represent the variable balance charged for the remaining number and include the associated software, accessories and maintenance.
	
		
			 Financial year Yearly cost excluding VAT (£) 
			 2002-03 86,609.16 
			 2003-04 309,802.60 
			 2004-05 368,632.99 
			 2005-06 248,754.10 
			 2006-07 200,808.25 
			 2007-08 341,698.66 
			 2008-09 631,433.10 
			 2009-10 679,296.21 
			 2010-11 613,502.80 
			 2011-12 602,198.00 
			 2012-13 369,659.50 
		
	
	The average number of laptops provided to staff by the Crown Prosecution Service under the CGI contract for each year is as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year Average 
			 2002-03 233 
			 2003-04 620 
			 2004-05 702 
			 2005-06 494 
			 2006-07 408 
			 2007-08 480 
			 2008-09 998 
			 2009-10 1,036 
			 2010-11 1,040 
			 2011-12 1,024 
			 2012-13 668 
		
	
	In February 2012, the Crown Prosecution Service introduced tablet devices for use by advocates and other operational lawyers to support the presentation of cases in court:
	
		
			 Financial year Average 
			 2011-12: (1)1,164 
			 2012-13: 3,596 
			 (1) February to March 
		
	
	As of March 2013, 4,439 had been deployed.
	The yearly support cost (excluding VAT) for the tablet service is as follows and includes associated software, accessories and maintenance costs:
	2011-12: £74,231
	2012-13: £1,376,389.
	To facilitate the bulk purchase of tablets the CPS paid a commissioning charge per tablet which for 4,700 tablets was £4,066,722 (excluding VAT).

Domestic Violence: Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General if he will publish a breakdown by Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) business area of (a) domestic violence-flagged cases referred to the CPS for a charging decision, (b) decisions to take no further action on domestic violence-flagged cases and (c) the conviction rate for domestic violence-flagged cases in each of the last five years.

Dominic Grieve: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the numbers of domestic violence flagged cases in its case management system and associated management information system.
	The CPS defines domestic violence as any threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between those who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality. Family members include mother, father, son, daughter, sister, and grandparents, whether directly related, in laws or step family. The data are accurate only to the extent that the flag has been correctly applied.
	The following tables show, in each of the last five years for each CPS business area, (a) the number of domestic violence flagged cases referred to the CPS for a pre-charge decision, (b) the number of these pre-charge decisions in which the CPS decided to take no further action and (c) the conviction rate of defendants prosecuted for domestic violence.
	
		
			 (a) Total pre-charge decisions 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Total 80,423 91,184 101,242 95,117 88,110 
			       
			 Cymru Wales 5,435 6,540 6,750 6,902 6,853 
			 Eastern 5,264 6,361 7,143 6,799 6,556 
			 East Midlands 5,822 6,704 8,067 8,075 6,937 
			 London 9,534 10,217 12,329 11,893 12,035 
			 Merseyside and Cheshire 4,441 4,373 4,407 4,002 3,986 
			 North East 5,056 5,250 5,956 5,203 5,023 
			 North West 10,094 12,385 15,037 14,619 11,980 
			 South East 4,217 4,772 5,121 4,334 4,997 
			 South West 4,736 5,103 5,908 5,175- 4,690 
			 Thames and Chiltern 3,882 4,708 5,434 4,838 4,280 
			 Wessex 5,278 5,249 5,281 4,932 4,471 
			 West Midlands 8,871 9,843 10,049 9,249 7,956 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 7,793 9,679 9,760 9,096 8,346 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) Total no further action 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Total 20,475 24,274 27,132 24,581 23,518 
			       
			 Cymru Wales 1,523 1,911 1,960 1,844 2,052 
			 Eastern 1,423 1,857 2,145 1,787 1,765 
			 East Midlands 1,360 1,528 2,122 2,283 1,767 
			 London 2,797 2,811 2,939 2,863 3,787 
			 Merseyside and Cheshire 1,061 1,385 1,369 1,292 1,153 
			 North East 979 967 1,021 979 1,286 
			 North West 2,775 3,493 4,571 4,382 3,314 
			 South East 967 1,048 1,211 954 1,283 
			 South West 1,032 1,077 1,301 1,059 944 
			 Thames and Chiltern 1,178 1,438 1,408 1,167 1,126 
			 Wessex 1,308 1,413 1,387 1,293 1,033 
			 West Midlands 2,454 2,922 3,159 2,616 2,142 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 1,618 2,424 2,539 2,062 1,866 
		
	
	
		
			 (c) Conviction rate 
			 Percentage 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Total 72.2 72.0 71.9 73.3 74.3 
			       
			 Cymru Wales 73.0 73.2 72.7 75.6 79.0 
			 Eastern 76.0 78.0 79.5 82.7 80.7 
			 East Midlands 71.8 72.4 74.2 74.5 75.5 
			 London 61.9 59.7 58.7 62.7 61.7 
			 Merseyside and Cheshire 69.9 69.7 70.6 77.1 77.7 
			 North East ' 72.1 73.5 73.5 74.6 75.3 
			 North West 76.8 76.3 75.0 74.2 77.9 
			 South East 74.1 75.0 74.8 77.0 75.3 
			 South West 75.2 76.1 75.4 76.5 75.4 
			 Thames and Chiltern 69.1 69.5 73.4 72.1 70.9 
			 Wessex 71.0 71.3 70.8 70.6 73.3 
			 West Midlands 72.6 71.4 71.9 72.7 74.0 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 75.4 73.8 72.8 73.6 75.2

Evidence

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how many times the Crown Prosecution Service served an application to adduce bad character pursuant to section 101 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 or hearsay evidence pursuant to section 114 or 116 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 where such applications failed to comply with the time limits as set out in the Criminal Procedure Rules 2011 in each of the last five years.

Dominic Grieve: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of times a CPS prosecutor has served a bad character or hearsay evidence application. To provide this information would require a manual search of files which would incur a disproportionate cost.

Offences Against Children: Prosecutions

Ann Coffey: To ask the Attorney-General what the success rate of the Crown Prosecution Service has been in prosecuting child sexual abuse cases since January 2013; and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Grieve: The CPS maintains a central record of the number of finalised defendant prosecutions who were prosecuted under charges relating to sexual offences. The CPS also identify all cases involving a victim under 18 years of age. The following table sets out the number of prosecutions for sexual offences where the victim was under 18 years of age since January 2013:
	
		
			  2013 
			  January February March 3 month total 
			  Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 
			 Convictions 205 76.5 245 74.2 280 80.2 730 77.1 
			 Unsuccessful 63 23.5 85 25.8 69 19.8 217 22.9 
			 Total 268 — 330 — 349 — 947 — 
		
	
	This definition includes crimes perpetrated by both adults and under 18s.

Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how many cases the Crown Prosecution Service dropped at the pre-charging stage in each of the last seven years.

Dominic Grieve: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the numbers of suspects referred to prosecutors for a pre-charge decision since Statutory Charging was fully rolled out across England and Wales in April 2006.
	The following table shows, in each of the last seven years for which figures are available, the number of cases in which the CPS decided to take no further action, at the pre-charge decision stage.
	
		
			  No further action (NFA) Percentage NFA Total pre-charge decisions 
			 2006-07 186,140 31.9 582,760 
			 2007-08 160,951 29.4 547,050 
			 2008-09 140,895 26.5 532,427 
			 2009-10 127,502 26.7 477,517 
			 2010-11 119,160 25.5 466,611 
			 2011-12 87,992 24.0 367,067 
			 2012-13 71,215 23.8 299,345

Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how many Crown Prosecution Service prosecutions in (a) Magistrates' Courts and (b) Crown Courts there were in each of the last eight years.

Dominic Grieve: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the number of defendants who were prosecuted in magistrates courts and in the Crown court.
	The figures in the following tables represent the numbers of defendants prosecuted together with the outcome of proceedings prosecuted by the CPS, in each of the last eight years. Outcomes are divided into convictions, including guilty pleas as well as convictions after trial, and unsuccessful outcomes, comprising all other outcomes.
	
		
			 (a) Magistrates courts 
			  Convictions Unsuccessful Total 
			  Number Percentage Number Percentage  
			 2005-06 881,861 82.5 186,884 17.5 1,068,745 
			 2006-07 831,093 84.1 156,939 15.9 988,032 
		
	
	
		
			 2007-08 828,535 85.7 138,130 14.3 966,665 
			 2008-09 810,605 87.3 118,103 12.7 928,708 
			 2009-10 757,349 86.8 115,236 13.2 872,585 
			 2010-11 727,625 86.5 113,555 13.5 841,180 
			 2011-12 682,872 86.7 105,086 13.3 787,958 
			 2012-13 610,362 86.2 97,633 13.8 707,995 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) Crown court 
			  Convictions Unsuccessful Total 
			  Number Percentage Number Percentage  
			 2005-06 69,832 76.4 21,526 23.6 91,358 
			 2006-07 69,549 77.0 20,720 23.0 90,269 
			 2007-08 77,428 79.4 20,101 20.6 97,529 
			 2008-09 84,000 80.9 19,890 19.1 103,890 
			 2009-10 88,872 80.7 21,274 19.3 110,146 
			 2010-11 93,706 79.6 23,948 20.4 117,654 
			 2011-12 87,785 80.9 20,762 19.1 108,547 
			 2012-13 79,391 80.6 19,072 19.4 98,463

Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what proportion of Crown Prosecution Service cases were conducted paperlessly in the last 12 months.

Dominic Grieve: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not keep statistics on the proportion of cases that have been conducted from receipt to disposal without the use of paper. To obtain and collate this information would incur a disproportionate cost.
	Over the last 12 months, the CPS has made substantial progress with its Transformation Through Technology (T3) Programme, which is designed to transform the work of the Service by moving case preparation, progression and presentation away from paper to digital, using existing technology.
	Most police forces are now transferring over 90% of all case files electronically to the CPS with paper only by exception. All magistrates courts are now able to receive digital case files from the CPS, and almost 4,500 tablet devices have been deployed to CPS staff: prosecutors are increasingly using them to present cases in court instead of paper files.

Rape: Prosecutions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General if he will publish a breakdown by Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) business area of (a) rape-flagged cases referred to the CPS for a charging decision, (b) decisions to take no further action on rape-flagged cases and (c) the conviction rate for rape cases in each of the last five years.

Dominic Grieve: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the numbers of cases flagged as rape in its Case Management System and associated Management Information System.
	The CPS defines rape as any offence from the following list:
	Section 1 Sexual Offences Act 1956;
	Section 5 Sexual Offences Act 1956;
	Section 1 Sexual Offences Act 2003;
	Section 5 Sexual Offences Act 2003;
	Section 30(3) Sexual Offences Act 2003;
	An attempt to commit any of the above offences under the Criminal Attempts Act 1981;
	Incitement or conspiracy to commit any of the above offences.
	It is not possible to disaggregate figures to show separately the volume and outcome of proceedings for each individual offence on this list. A single defendant may be charged with more than one offence. The data is accurate only to the extent that the flag has been correctly applied.
	The following tables show, in each of the last five years for each CPS business area, (a) the number of rape flagged cases referred to the CPS for a pre-charge decision, (b) the number of these pre-charge decisions in which the CPS decided to take no further action, and (c) the conviction rate of defendants flagged as rape.
	
		
			 (a) Total pre-charge decisions 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Total 6,597 7,683 8,130 6,822 5,404 
			 Cymru Wales 515 580 605 497 477 
			 Eastern 390 403 510 422 319 
			 East Midlands 498 536 528 504 361 
			 London 993 1,256 1,481 1,122 844 
			 Merseyside and Cheshire 288 354 442 429 342 
			 North East 358 421 405 345 293 
			 North West 671 818 860 752 623 
			 South East 366 527 493 400 378 
			 South West 359 367 315 349 302 
		
	
	
		
			 Thames and Chiltern 324 419 464 385 277 
			 Wessex 383 384 475 377 296 
			 West Midlands 856 964 869 729 524 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 596 654 683 511 368 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) Total no further action 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Total 3,511 4,186 4,361 3,305 2,211 
			 Cymru Wales 309 304 347 268 236 
			 Eastern 221 226 275 213 175 
			 East Midlands 301 258 256 254 155 
			 London 410 666 812 564 269 
			 Merseyside and Cheshire 184 248 311 285 249 
			 North East 194 220 177 164 116 
			 North West 346 438 464 337 258 
			 South East 192 264 238 155 160 
			 South West 171 200 114 131 85 
			 Thames and Chiltern 190 273 233 165 98 
			 Wessex 217 209 299 200 107 
			 West Midlands 478 556 524 355 220 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 298 324 311 214 83 
		
	
	
		
			 (c) Conviction rate 
			 Percentage 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Total 57.7 59.4 58.6 62.5 63.2 
			 Cymru Wales 56.3 59.3 52.5 62.5 57.9 
			 Eastern 61.9 69.2 68.4 69.0 67.7 
			 East Midlands 55.2 66.9 56.7 66.9 67.6 
			 London 47.0 45.5 52.0 55.4 55.0 
			 Merseyside and Cheshire 65.7 66.1 57.7 57.0 70.9 
			 North East 64.0 67.6 65.5 56.4 63.3 
			 North West 60.6 66.0 62.3 62.7 62.2 
			 South East 62.1 61.2 55.2 63.9 64.0 
			 South West 56.7 57.7 69.4 68.1 66.0 
			 Thames and Chiltern 51.0 64.4 55.0 61.6 61.9 
			 Wessex 60.4 60.4 53.3 68.3 67.2 
			 West Midlands 61.2 62.0 60.6 61.9 67.2 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 67.0 64.2 64.0 66.1 67.0

Serious Fraud Office

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney General pursuant to the answer of 21 March 2013, Official Report, column 747W on serious fraud office; what the (a) value and (b) source of the gifts received by the Serious Fraud Office is; and if he will provide the value of the gifts received since 2009-10 and the identities of the companies who gave them.

Dominic Grieve: A table containing the information requested has been placed in the Library of the House(1).
	(1) The data provided in the table also relate to data provided in the answer of 19 March 2013, Official Report, column 631W, which contained the following typographical errors. The value of the third largest entry in 2009-10 was £75 rather than £70. The five highest value entries for 2011-12 were £200, £120, £104, £95 and £71. The total value of gifts and hospitality in 2011-12 has been recalculated due to these errors and equals £1,183.

Gaming Machines

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  whether the Government plans to bring forward further legislative proposals to control the spread of adult gaming centres;
	(2)  what restrictions there are on the number of adult gaming centres allowed in a designated area.

Hugh Robertson: Councils have powers under the Gambling Act to licence adult gaming centres and address problems by individual premises. In addition, councils have a range of planning powers to protect local amenity; for example, the London borough of Barking and Dagenham has been consulting on an Article 4 Direction and associated supplementary planning guidance to address the proliferation of betting shops in the local area.

Animal Welfare: Sentencing

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will undertake a general review of sentencing for crimes of promoting and organising animal fighting; and if he will make a statement.

David Heath: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
	Organised animal fights are prohibited by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The maximum penalty is a fine of £20,000 and/or six months imprisonment. Sections 85-87 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 provide powers to remove the maximum limits of penalties imposed on offenders by magistrates courts. However these sections have not yet been commenced.

Banks: Finance

Peter Lilley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which measures his Department has introduced since 2008 to require UK-based banks to hold additional capital.

Greg Clark: The Government supports the implementation of the Basel international standards. The Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) 4 improves both the quantity and quality of regulatory capital banks are required to hold. CRD 4 also provides supervisors with a range of discretionary tools for increasing firms' capital requirements.
	The Banking Reform Bill will from 2019 require ring-fenced retail banks to hold an additional equity capital buffer above and beyond the new international standards. Ring-fenced banks and UK-headquartered global banking groups will also be required to hold a minimum amount of loss-absorbing bail-in debt.
	In addition, the Government has created the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) at the Bank of England, charged with identifying, monitoring and taking action to remove or reduce systemic risks to the stability of the financial system. Among the FPC's powers will be the power to vary capital requirements in certain circumstances.

Child Benefit

Alan Beith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the cost of means-testing household income to determine eligibility for child benefit.

David Gauke: The Government considered a number of different options relating to child benefit including how any change should be delivered. Looking at household income would mean finding out the incomes of everyone in each of the 8 million households getting child benefit. This would effectively introduce a new means test. Our approach means that HMRC only had to contact around 15% of those families.

Departmental Expenditure Limits

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by what amount is (a) in today's prices and (b) as a percentage Departmental Resource DEL budgets (excluding depreciation) have been adjusted for (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15 as a result of the policy announced in the Autumn Statement 2011 that public sector pay awards would average one per cent for each of the two years following the end of the pay freeze.

Danny Alexander: This information is in the public domain. For convenience, I advise the following links.
	The reduction in departmental budgets as a result of this measure was set out in a written ministerial statement on 8 December 2011 and can be found at the following link:
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111208/wmstext/111208m0001.htm
	The most recent GDP deflators can be found on the Treasury website:
	http://hm-treasury.gov.uk/data_gdp_fig.htm
	The latest departmental control totals can be found in table 2.4 of the Budget 2012 document:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/budget2013.htm

Income Tax

Katy Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make an assessment of the effects of decreasing the 40% income tax threshold in Budget 2013 on those households affected.

David Gauke: By April 2014, the personal allowance will have risen by £3,525 since 2010—an increase of 54%. Together these increases will benefit 25 million individuals, and take 2.7 million low income individuals out of income tax by April 2014.
	To make this reform affordable, the Government has focused much of the benefit of the increases in the personal allowance on those with low and middle incomes. The higher rate threshold has been reduced to help achieve this.
	Higher rate taxpayers have also benefited from increases in the personal allowance—a typical higher rate taxpayer will have gained by £224 in real terms in 2014-15.

Income Tax

Katy Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many additional households will be brought into the 40% income tax band in 2015 as a result of the reductions in thresholds made since 2010.

David Gauke: By April 2014, the personal allowance will have risen by £3,525 since 2010—an increase of 54%. Together these increases will benefit 25 million individuals, and take 2.7 million low income individuals out of income tax by April 2014.
	To make this reform affordable, the Government has focused much of the benefit of the increases in the personal allowance on those with low and middle incomes. The higher rate threshold has been reduced to help achieve this.
	HMRC estimates that there will be an additional 2.2 million individuals brought into the 40% income tax band in 2015 as a result of the reductions in thresholds made since 2010. 1.4 million of these individuals will have been brought into the 40% income tax band as a result of decisions made by this Government alone. Around three-quarters of these individuals remain better off as a result of the significant increases in the personal allowance made by this Government.

Inheritance Tax

John Stevenson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of revenue foregone owing to inheritance tax exemptions in each of the last five financial years;
	(2)  how much revenue was raised from inheritance tax in each of the last five financial years.

David Gauke: Revenue foregone owing to major inheritance tax exemptions is published at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/expenditures/table1-5.pdf
	Similar information for more minor exemptions is published at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/expenditures/table-b1.pdf
	Revenue foregone for previous years is not available for the exemptions covered in these tables. However the amounts of inheritance tax exemptions set against assets for the last five financial years, for estates above the inheritance tax threshold, is published at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/inheritance/table12-2.pdf
	Revenue foregone due to exemptions for charities is given at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/charity/table10-2.pdf
	Revenue raised from inheritance tax in the each of the last five years where information is available is published at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/inheritance/table12-1.pdf

Inheritance Tax

John Stevenson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many taxable estates there were in 2011-12;
	(2)  how many estates were worth over £1 million in 2011-12.

David Gauke: The number of estates paying IHT on death in 2011-12 is published in Table 1.4 available from the HMRC website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/taxpayers/table1-4.pdf
	The numbers of estates worth over £1 million left on death in 2009-10 are in the published National Statistics Table 12.3 available from the HMRC website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/inheritance/table12-3.pdf
	Data for 2011-12 will be published to the publication schedule which is available from the HMRC website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/updates.htm

Inheritance Tax

Pamela Nash: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how much revenue his Department collected in inheritance tax by (a) postcode, (b) region and (c) parliamentary constituency in each year since 2007-08;
	(2)  how much income was foregone by his Department in inheritance tax relief for holdings in (a) unincorporated partnerships, (b) owner-occupier farmland, (c) shares in qualifying unquoted companies and (d) bequests of landlord interests in let farmland for (i) Wales, (ii) Scotland, (iii) England, (iv) Northern Ireland and (v) the UK in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

David Gauke: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to her question of 18 April 2013, Official Report, column 250. There are no figures available on the amount of IHT revenue collected at postcode or parliamentary constituency level. However, information on the number of taxpayers at parliamentary constituency level is published in HM Revenue and Customs' official statistics. The most recent figures, for 2009-10, are available at the following address:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/inheritance/table12-12.pdf
	The information requested on income foregone in inheritance tax relief is not available. However, the estimated cost of relief for agricultural property in general is published at the following address:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/expenditures/table1-5.pdf
	The amounts of inheritance tax exemptions set against assets for the last five financial years, for estates above the inheritance tax threshold, is published at the following address:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/inheritance/table12-2.pdf

M4

Jessica Morden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on funding an M4 relief road.

Danny Alexander: Roads policy is devolved to the Welsh Government but the UK Government recognises the strategic importance of the M4 and so is discussing options for funding improvements with the Welsh Government.

M4

Jessica Morden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on the funding of an M4 relief road.

Danny Alexander: I regularly meet with the Welsh Finance Minister to discuss matters that are relevant to Wales. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings and discussions.

Mobile Phones

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which company holds the largest contract to provide mobile telephony services to HM Revenue and Customs; how much was paid under the contract in the last year for which figures are available; how many individual services are covered by the contract; when the contract was awarded; when the contract will next be renewed; and for how long.

David Gauke: The contract for mobile telephony services is provided through the ASPIRE Framework with Capgemini as the prime contractor. Capgemini subcontract this work to Vodafone, as follows:
	
		
			  Annual spend April 2012 to March 2013 (£) 
			 Vodafone — 
			 Blackberry 513,168 
			 3G/GPRS 257,878 
			 Mobile phones 495,076 
			 Total 1,266,122 
		
	
	The contract with Vodafone started on 18 December 2010 and is due to expire on 17 December 2014. HMRC will decide the appropriate contract length according to their requirements and market dynamics.

Private Finance Initiative

Pamela Nash: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which private finance initiative projects have been refinanced in each year since May 2010; what the value is of each such project; what the refinancing gain has been in each such case; and how much any such gain the relevant Government body received through a (a) lump sum and (b) reduction in the unitary charge.

Danny Alexander: PFI projects are managed by departments, local authorities and NHS trusts as well as devolved Administrations. Those procuring authorities do not need to inform the Treasury if projects are refinanced. Therefore the Treasury does not carry this information.
	The Treasury is not aware of any projects being refinanced since May 2010, this is likely to reflect the increased cost of private finance since the financial crisis and therefore the limited opportunity to refinance on more favourable terms.
	You may be interested to know that in April 2012 the Treasury revised the standard refinancing gain sharing provisions for new projects so that in the event of a debt refinancing 90% of the gain is retained by the public sector—so should the opportunity of refinancings arise in future the public sector will be the main beneficiary.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

John Stevenson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is his intention to require sellers' national insurance details to be provided on the Stamp Duty Land Tax form.

David Gauke: The Government has no plans to require sellers' national insurance details to be provided on the Stamp Duty Land Tax form.

Tax Avoidance

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether his Department is taking steps to reduce the number of UK companies operating in developing countries and engaging in tax avoidance;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of how many UK companies operating in developing countries engaged in tax avoidance in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

David Gauke: The UK Government is taking the lead on international action, through the G20 and OECD, to tackle the issue of base erosion and profit shifting by multinational corporations, and is also speeding up its work to identify and challenge multinationals' transfer pricing arrangements.
	The Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes (DOTAS) regime requires avoidance schemes with certain hallmarks to be notified to HMRC along with the users of such a scheme. If a multinational was using such a scheme, then it would be notified to HMRC, but only to the extent that it affects UK tax liabilities.
	Instead, the UK provides technical assistance to allow developing countries to benefit from tax information exchange and also assists these countries to develop effective tax systems of their own, so that they can build and protect their own tax base and access and act on tax information.

Tax Avoidance: Multinational Companies

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to ensure that large multi-national companies do not avoid paying tax in the UK.

David Gauke: The UK Government has led the calls through the G20 for collective action to strengthen international tax standards. The UK, together with France and Germany, has contributed additional resources to the OECD to support rapid progress on its work to tackle profit shifting and the erosion of the corporate tax base at the global level.
	At the G20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Moscow in February the Chancellor welcomed the initial report by the OECD, which confirmed this is an international issue that requires international action. The OECD will be presenting a comprehensive action plan for tackling these issues to the G20 in July this year.

Taxation

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the proportion of income a household on average earnings will spend in taxes in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2011-12 and (d) 2010-11.

David Gauke: In 2010-11, the Office for National Statistics estimated that on average, households contribute 34% of their gross household income in tax, of which 20% comes from direct taxation, and 13% through indirect taxation. This is the latest year for which data is available.
	It is not possible to estimate the total tax contribution of a single household on average earnings, because the amount that a household contributes in indirect tax will vary according to household consumption. However, it is possible to estimate the amount of income tax and national insurance contributions, as a proportion of gross earnings, for individuals on median earnings (not income). Figures for 2013-14 are based on projections for average earnings from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 (projected) 
			 Median earnings (£) 25,900 26,100 26,500 26,700 
			 Income tax and national insurance as a proportion of gross income (percentage) 24 23 22 21 
		
	
	Gross income is defined as market income, plus income from direct benefits in cash. Tax, as a proportion of household income, is taken from the Office for National Statistics' publication “The Effects of Tax and Benefits on Household Income (2010/11)”. Median earnings are taken from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (2010-11 to 2012-13), and rounded to the nearest £100.

Level 6 SATs

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the number of primary schools which have taken up level 6 SATs papers at Key Stage 2; and what proportion of pupils will take these tests this academic year.

Elizabeth Truss: Level 6 tests are made available to schools to stretch the most able pupils. In 2012, nearly 8,300 primary schools entered at least one pupil for the level 6 tests. Over 73,300 pupils were registered for a level 6 test in 2012.
	For 2013, over 11,700 schools have registered at least one pupil for the level 6 tests.
	Over 113,600 pupils have been registered for a level 6 test, which represents 21% of the cohort.

Child Care and Early Intervention

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has for child care and early intervention provision; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Timpson: There is a consensus across this House that early intervention is both effective and necessary, and the Government is determined to build on this, with the Early Intervention Foundation, formally launched on 15 April, playing a powerful role in gathering information about what works. We already know that high quality early education and child care can be a powerful early intervention, which is why we are extending early learning for two-year-olds from low income families.

Academies

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on falling rolls in academies; and if he will make a statement.

David Laws: One of the Government's priorities is to ensure that parents have access to high quality education in a school of their choice. Academies are popular with parents, and many are oversubscribed. For example, ARK and Harris academies receive, on average, four applications for each place available.
	We are clear that, in times of economic austerity, money should be spent on pupils who are actually in schools and not spent on funding empty places whether in academies or LA schools.
	Academies are independent, autonomous organisations and it is the academy trust which has responsibility for managing the fluctuations in pupil numbers and the resulting impact fewer pupils has on the funding available.

Education: Finance

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the aims of the F40 group with regards to his reform of the education funding formula.

David Laws: The Department has taken care to listen to the aims of the F40 group and I met with representatives from the group on 19 November 2012 to discuss their concerns. The Department recognises that the current school funding system is unfair and out-of-date. Our aim is to move towards a fairer and more transparent funding system and the Secretary of State for Education, the right hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) announced in March 2012 that we plan to introduce a new national funding formula in the next spending review period. It is important that we reform the funding system at a pace which is manageable for schools.

Education: Finance

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what consideration he has given to the specific circumstances of rural areas in his recently announced changes to education funding.

David Laws: The current school funding system is unfair and out-of-date. It has resulted in similar schools across the country receiving significantly different levels of funding.
	We want a system which targets funding to pupils on a fair and transparent basis, regardless of where they go to school. This means that the majority of funding will be based on the needs of pupils and not the size or circumstances of schools. We are however committed to supporting successful rural schools and we know that they often play an important role in local communities.
	In recognition that small schools, particularly those in rural areas, cannot meet some of their fixed costs through per pupil funding alone, local authorities are able to apply a lump sum of up to £200,000 for all schools in their local formula. This should provide enough flexibility to allow local authorities and Schools Forums to support successful small schools in meeting the necessary fixed costs.
	The Department is carrying out a careful review of these arrangements. We are working with schools and local authorities; including those in rural areas, to explore their effect and to consider whether further changes need to be made in April 2014, in order to avoid unacceptable consequences for schools and to move us closer towards a national funding formula.

Free School Meals

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to ensure that children living in poverty in (a) the UK and (b) Leicester South constituency are receiving free school meals.

David Laws: The Government is committed to increasing the take-up of free school meals for all pupils who are entitled to them. We want disadvantaged pupils to benefit from a nutritious meal, and for their schools to receive extra funding through the pupil premium in order to help them to raise the attainment of these pupils. The pupil premium rises to £900 per eligible pupil in 2013-14, providing a strong incentive for schools to encourage their pupils to apply for free school meals.
	We know that, nationally, 14% of entitled pupils choose not to claim their free school meal; in Leicester that figure is 15%. These figures are based on research conducted by the Department for Education, available on our website(1).
	The Children's Food Trust has produced a ‘Free School Meals Matter Toolkit’, which provides schools with information and advice to help them to ensure that all pupils entitled to free school meals register for, and take, the meal:
	The Department's on-line Eligibility Checking Service enables parents to apply for school meals without having to give the school information about their income from benefits or earnings. We are encouraging local authorities to increase their use of this resource to enable more parents to apply on-line.
	A number of schools and local authorities have put in place cashless payment systems, which helps to ensure that those children who are receiving free school meals cannot be identified.
	Overall, the number of children claiming free school meals rose to 18.2% in 2012 compared with 17.4% in 2010.
	The Department is considering options for new eligibility criteria for free school meals once universal credit is introduced. We will aim to ensure that those families on the lowest incomes are entitled to free school meals.
	(1)( )https://www.education.gov.uk/ publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE-RR235

Free School Meals

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he plans to take to ensure that the delivery of free school meals through universal credit on the basis of an income test will not constitute a disincentive to work.

David Laws: Universal credit will improve work incentives by allowing individuals to keep more of their income as they move into work and by introducing a smoother and more transparent reduction of benefits when they increase their earnings.
	We are currently considering proposals for new entitlement criteria for free school meals under universal credit. We are working very closely with other Departments, including the Cabinet Office and the Department for Work and Pensions, to simplify free school meals criteria under universal credit, while ensuring that free lunches continue to be available to the families who need them most.
	We have yet to finalise what the new eligibility criteria, but we want to make sure that they are simple and that free school meals are available to those families on the lowest incomes, irrespective of the hours worked. Our priority is to make sure that the most disadvantaged children are able to get a nutritious meal at school, and that entitlement to benefits such as free school meals should not be a disincentive to work.

Literacy

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will mandate all schools to publish the literacy levels of their pupils on entry and exit from the school.

David Laws: The Department's School Performance Tables(1) already provide information on the distribution of levels attained by pupils at the end of Year 6 in Reading and in Writing; and on the proportion of pupils making at least expected progress in English between Key Stage 1 and the end of Key Stage 2. A Value Added measure also shows the progress pupils have made in English compared with those nationally of similar prior attainment.
	We publish similar measures of attainment and progress in English for secondary schools.
	Additionally, from 1 September 2012, the School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 required schools to publish specified information on the attainment and progress of their pupils and to provide a link to where this information could be found in the Performance Tables.
	(1) www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance

Priority School Building Programme

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will place in the Library a copy of the criteria used by his Department during the assessment stage of the priority schools building programme to assign schools to either the capital or PFI stream.

David Laws: Following the announcement of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP), the DFE invited responses from schools wishing to apply for funding. Those applications were assessed objectively as described in the letter which invited applications for the programme. Applications had to be supported by a building condition survey and qualified surveyors visited every school to validate the accuracy of the data submitted. The prioritisation process compared the cost of addressing the current condition of the school with the rebuilding cost.
	The condition need of some of the schools within the PSBP is so severe the Secretary of State decided urgent action was necessary. We have therefore made a limited amount of capital grant available to address the needs of the highest priority schools in the programme. 42 schools—those in the very worst condition and all special schools included within the programme—were prioritised to be delivered through capital grant. It is right that the condition needs of special schools—where some of our most vulnerable children are educated—are met as quickly as possible.

Schools: Vocational Guidance

David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will require all schools to publish what prospective pupils can expect in terms of careers advice, guidance and contact with businesses and work experience options.

Matthew Hancock: Since September 2012, schools have been legally required to secure independent careers guidance for year 9-11 pupils on the full range of post-16 education and training options.
	The Department for Education has published statutory guidance which sets out expectations about the type and quality of careers guidance that should be made available to pupils under the new duty. The statutory guidance is clear that schools should consider a wide range of careers activities to offer all young people insights into the world of work. This can include engagement with local employers and work experience but schools should determine the most appropriate provision in accordance with the needs of their pupils.

Sixth Form Education

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of (a) free schools and (b) academies recruited fewer sixth form students than they were funded for by the Education Funding Agency in each of the last two years.

Matthew Hancock: holding answer 26 March 2013
	The number and percentage of free schools and academies which recruited fewer sixth-form students than they were funded for is as follows:
	
		
			  2011/12 2012/13 
			  Number Percentage Number Percentage 
			 Free schools 1 50 6 75 
			 Academies 395 60 570 53 
			 Maintained schools* — 62 — 56 
			 * Indicative figures for maintained schools are higher than those for academies. 
		
	
	16 to 19 funding is generally based on a lagged approach, where funding for each year is based on recruitment in the previous year. As a result, many institutions will recruit a different number of students from the number on which their funding allocation was based (either above or below this figure), and their funding will reflect this change in the following year. For free schools and those academies which are not funded on a lagged basis, the Education Funding Agency recovers funding for under-delivery.

Student Wastage

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people left (a) school, (b) sixth form college and (c) further education college at the end of the first year of a two-year course in each of the last five years.

Matthew Hancock: Information is not available in the form requested and to carry out the analysis required would incur disproportionate cost.

Vocational Guidance

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to improve the quality of careers advice supplied in the education sector.

Matthew Hancock: Helping pupils to progress from school successfully to the next stage of their education, and onwards into work, is a core function of schools. By introducing the careers duty, we have created a new legal basis for schools to secure independent and impartial careers guidance to meet the needs of their pupils.
	The duty is underpinned by statutory guidance which sets expectations about the type and quality of support that schools should offer. We have also published a practical guide containing examples of policy and practice which schools can draw on. Schools can access high quality support from careers providers who have achieved a national quality standard for careers guidance. This quality standard will assist schools in making well-informed decisions about which provider to use.
	An Ofsted thematic review of careers guidance, reporting this summer, will assess the impact of the new duty.

Vocational Guidance

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the education sector regarding careers advice for people in secondary education.

Matthew Hancock: Ministers have had frequent and widespread discussions on careers advice. The Government also received 327 responses to a public consultation on extending access to careers guidance. The views of respondents, including schools and education sector representatives, have informed our decision to extend the duty on schools to years 8-13 from September 2013.
	The House of Commons Education Committee scrutinised the impact of the new careers duty through their recent inquiry into young people's careers guidance. The Committee received written and oral evidence from a range of witnesses from the education sector. The Government will shortly respond formally to the Committee's report. Ofsted's forthcoming thematic review of careers guidance will inform future improvements in the quality of careers provision.

Vocational Guidance

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations he has received on the difference in effectiveness between face-to-face careers guidance and online or call centre-based advice.

Matthew Hancock: Young people take on board information and advice in many ways and will require access to different sources of support at different stages. Schools should determine the most appropriate forms of careers guidance based on the needs and circumstances of their pupils.
	To give effect to this policy, we have placed a duty on schools to secure access to independent and impartial careers guidance for their pupils. The legal provisions were scrutinised in the House of Commons and the House of Lords during the passage of the Education Bill. A wide range of stakeholders submitted evidence to inform debates, including on the appropriateness of different types of careers provision. Statutory guidance underpinning the duty places a clear expectation on schools to secure access to independent face-to-face careers guidance where it is the most suitable support for young people to make successful transitions.
	We have published Education Destination Measures showing the percentage of students progressing to further education or training in a school, Further Education or sixth form college, apprenticeship or Higher Education institution. This will show how effective schools are in supporting a successful transition into an appropriate and sustainable course, including through the provision of independent careers guidance.

Vocational Guidance

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to improve the (a) availability and (b) quality of careers advice offered to 16 to 18-year-olds.

Matthew Hancock: From September 2013 all schools will be under a legal duty to secure access to independent and impartial careers guidance for their sixth form students. We are also placing an equivalent requirement on colleges through their funding agreements to ensure that 16 to18-year-olds in further education and sixth form colleges can access the support they need.
	We will shortly publish guidance to support schools and colleges to take on their new responsibilities. They will be expected to work in partnership, as appropriate, with external and expert careers providers. To support this, an online register of careers providers accredited to a national careers quality standard is available for schools to access.

Children: Maintenance

Richard Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what steps his Department takes to collect older child maintenance debt; and what resources his Department allocates to this task;
	(2)  with reference to his Department's recently published Child Maintenance Arrears and Compliance Strategy, what steps he is taking to inform all affected parents with care who are legally owed child maintenance, that the collection of child maintenance arrears in respect of yesterday's children is being given a low priority.

Steve Webb: We have a wide range of collection and enforcement actions available to recover arrears of child maintenance and over 2,000 people working within collection and enforcement teams, whose role is to collect as much in child maintenance arrears as possible.
	While we have to make the most effective use of our resources and prioritise cases where children will benefit now, there are several proposed collection initiatives, both planned and underway, to tackle arrears in older cases.
	We are committed to collecting as much of this debt as we can and are continuing to develop and consider options as to how this can best be achieved within the context of our overall priorities, which put the welfare of children first.

Children: Maintenance

Richard Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to ensure that, following Child Support Agency (CSA) case closure, arrears of CSA maintenance which are currently being collected via a deduction from earnings order, a deduction order or following a liability order, a charging order or order for sale will continue to be collected, without interruption or new charges being placed on the parent with care who is owed the maintenance.

Steve Webb: There will be some cases subject to case closure, where compliance has only been secured due to enforcement action we have taken, such as a deduction from earnings order or a deduction order. We are conscious that in these cases we must do everything possible to minimise any disruption caused as a result of case closure and not jeopardise hard won compliance.
	On this basis, we are currently considering options as to how these cases can be managed in a way that has as little impact on clients as possible and once the approach has been finalised, this will be made public.
	I can confirm that we will continue to seek to collect arrears, where the parent with care wants us to do so, where arrears have arisen on the legacy schemes, after the closure of these schemes, whether or not a new case is opened on the 2012 scheme. No collection charges will be levied for this service.

Children: Maintenance

Richard Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to his Department's recently published Child Maintenance Arrears and Compliance Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all parents with care who are owed child maintenance arrears are informed of decisions which have been taken regarding collection and enforcement of arrears, including of decisions made not to pursue debt recovery and the reasons why these cases are not being pursued.

Steve Webb: We generally update parents with care about significant events on their child maintenance case; and this will continue in respect of those parents who are owed child maintenance arrears which arose when they had a case on the legacy schemes. This is particularly important in relation to what they can expect to be paid, and when, and we will make all reasonable efforts to keep parents updated in these circumstances.
	In the limited circumstances where debt is impossible to collect, for example, where the parent who owes the money has died and the arrears cannot be collected from their estate; or where there are reasons why a parent wants to write off the debt, for example, if they have reconciled with their former partner, full consultation will take place with the client(s) prior to any such action being taken.

Children: Maintenance

Richard Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he plans that (a) the pathfinder new statutory child maintenance scheme will be extended to parents with care with two or more children who share the same non-resident parent, (b) the new statutory maintenance scheme will be extended to cover all new applicants for statutory child maintenance and (c) Phase 2 of implementation of the statutory scheme, including charging parents for use of the statutory scheme and the phased closure of existing Child Support Agency cases, will begin.

Steve Webb: We introduced the new 2012 statutory maintenance scheme using a pathfinder approach to clients with four or more children in December 2012. We are currently monitoring progress and plan to open the 2012 scheme to applications for two or more children, and subsequently all new applications, later in 2013.
	Once the 2012 system has been opened to all applicants, and is seen to be working well, we will introduce charging and begin closing 1993 and 2003 scheme cases.

Children: Maintenance

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department carries out checks on the educational attendance records of qualifying children to ensure they meet the criteria for child maintenance payments to be made; and whether punitive action is taken in respect of maintenance payments where a qualifying child is found not to be attending education.

Steve Webb: A “child” for child maintenance purposes is defined in legislation as one who is:
	Under 16
	Under 20 and receiving full time, non-advanced education
	Between the ages of 16 and 20 and for whom child benefit is in payment.
	Therefore if a person falls within at least one of these groups they remain a child for the purposes of the payment of child maintenance.
	If a child is under 16, regardless of whether they are in education or not, child maintenance will still be payable, as long as they remain habitually resident in the UK.
	If a child is under 20 and receiving full time, non-advanced education, child maintenance is still payable. If a parent disputes whether their child is in education, the other parent will be asked to provide evidence to show they are. As part of a dispute, the Child Support Agency will also check whether child benefit is in payment and if it is, as outlined above, the qualifying child remains a child for child maintenance purposes and therefore the liability to pay will remain in place unless there are other grounds that mean the child is no longer eligible for maintenance.
	Any concerns a parent may have as to whether child benefit is correctly in payment for a child should be raised with HM Revenue and Customs in the first instance. Following any HMRC decision to end payment, then, where the agency is notified of the terminal date of child benefit, the agency will remove the child in question from the child maintenance calculation, provided that they do not continue to fit the definition of a “qualifying child” for child maintenance purposes on other grounds.
	If child benefit is ended retrospectively this may result in an overpayment of child maintenance having been paid by the non-resident parent. In such cases if the child removed from the case is not the last qualifying child, then future maintenance payments made by the non-resident parent will be reduced until the overpayment has been satisfied. However, if it is the last child that has been removed, a sum equal to the overpaid maintenance will generally be repaid to the non-resident parent and consideration will be given to recovering any maintenance paid out from the other parent. If a parent with care seeks to defraud the non-resident parent in their case through knowingly providing false information, then we can consider prosecuting them for any crime they may have committed in doing so.

Electronic Government

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many of his Department's staff have received training to help with the administration of the website Universal Jobmatch; and what the cost has been of any such training to date.

Mark Hoban: The total number of staff that received training on Universal Jobmatch is approximately 35,000. The online learning products were accessed via the Department's Intranet and available for staff at all times. The learning was managed locally within normal business hours at no additional cost.

Electronic Government

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he sought the advice of (a) the Information Commissioner and (b) his Department's Data Protection Officer on the compatibility of the option on the Universal Jobmatch website to authorise his Department to view (i) a user's account, (ii) job search activity, (iii) feedback and (iv) notes with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: Consultation has taken place with the Information Commissioner and DWP data protection officers during the overall development of Universal Jobmatch. Universal Jobmatch is compliant with the Data Protection Act.
	DWP staff can only view the claimant's Universal Jobmatch activity if they actively give DWP permission to view their Universal Jobmatch account by ticking a box within their profile.

Employment Schemes: Scotland

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Scotland were involved in the Mandatory Work Activity benefit scheme in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what the average number of working days worked was.

Mark Hoban: Mandatory Work Activity (MWA) began in May 2011. Official statistics are available for the period May 2011 up to and including August 2012. The table shows the number of starts and referrals in Scotland by financial year.
	
		
			 Table 1: Mandatory work activity starts and referrals in Scotland by financial year for the period May 2011 up to and including August 2012 
			 Financial year Referrals Starts 
			 2011-12 4,850 1,770 
			 2012-13 2,710 1,180 
			 Total 7,560 2,940 
			 Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Mandatory Work Programmes Official Statistics. 
		
	
	These figures are based upon official Mandatory Work Programmes Statistics which can be found here:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/pwp/mwa_aug12.pdf
	Data on the average number of 'working days worked' is unavailable.

Employment Schemes: Scotland

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Scotland were involved in work experience under the Sector Based Work Academies benefit scheme in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what the average number of working days worked was.

Mark Hoban: Sector-based work academies (SBWA) were introduced in England from August 2011 and in Scotland from January 2012 as part of the Get Britain Working measures. In Scotland, some testing took place prior to the official launch date for which the figures are included.
	The number of work experience placement starts under SBWA in Scotland, between August 2011 and November 2012, the latest available figures, are presented in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of SBWA work experience placement starts in Scotland 
			 2011 10 
			 2012 2,170 
			 Total 2,180 
			 Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 Source: DWP LMS opportunities and Client evaluation databases December 2012. 
		
	
	Data on the number of working days worked are unavailable due to unreliable data recording.

Jobcentre Plus

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance his Department has issued to Job Centre Plus staff on the quality, scope and comprehensiveness of advice to be given to claimants in respect of entitlement to benefits and access to additional services; and if he will place a copy of any such guidance in the Library.

Mark Hoban: A key departmental objective is to ensure each time a member of the public engages with DWP they are provided with the most relevant and accurate information, advice and guidance. It is for managers to ensure Jobcentre Plus staff provide claimants with the best possible service, including accurate information, advice and guidance tailored to individual need. Underpinning this is the Department's Accuracy of Information framework and a range of operational products to equip staff to provide claimants with relevant and accurate information, advice and guidance, e.g. procedural guidance, learning and development and quality assurance frameworks. I will arrange for a copy of the Accuracy of Information Framework to be placed in the Library.

Jobcentre Plus

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department last undertook mystery shopping to assess the quality, scope and comprehensiveness of advice given by Jobcentre Plus staff to claimants; and if he will place in the Library a copy of any report on the findings of the most recent inspection exercise.

Mark Hoban: The Department for Work and Pensions last undertook a mystery shopping exercise in 2010. Findings from the 2010 exercise were never intended to be published externally as they had the potential to identify individuals through our network of jobcentres, benefit centres and contact centres. The DWP terminated its mystery shopping contract in December 2010.
	The DWP Claimant Service and Experience Survey uses satisfaction and other experience measures as a metric for service performance, which allows the Department to understand which areas of the service most impact upon customer and claimant satisfaction and experience, and to direct improvement activity accordingly.
	A link to the 2012 published research report is provided:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/report_abstracts/rr_abstracts/rra_831.asp

Jobcentre Plus

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to ensure that Job Centre Plus staff offer comprehensive advice to claimants on their entitlement to benefits and access to additional services and the benefits and services available to claimants entering work.

Mark Hoban: It is the policy intent that Jobcentre Plus staff offer comprehensive advice to claimants on their entitlement to benefits and access to additional services and the benefits and services available to claimants entering work.

Jobcentre Plus

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which Jobcentre Plus centres (a) he and (b) ministerial colleagues have visited in the last 12 months.

Mark Hoban: The answer to your question is contained in the following table:
	
		
			 Minister Jobcentre Plus Centre 
			 Secretary of State Wellingborough Benefit Centre 
			  Wellingborough JCP 
			  Bootle Benefit Centre 
			  Upton JCP 
			  Leicester JCP 
			  Tottenham JCP 
			  Basildon JCP 
			  Basildon Benefit Centre 
			  Yate JCP 
			  Hull Benefit Centre 
			  Easterhouse JCP 
			  Dartford JCP 
			  Ashton under Lyne JCP 
			  Oldham JCP 
			  Stratford Benefit Centre 
			  London Bridge JCP 
			  Musselborough JCP 
			  Wallsend JCP 
			  Waltham Forest JCP 
			   
			 Ministerial colleagues Hounslow JCP 
			  Dartford JCP 
			  Haverhill JCP 
			  Chatham JCP 
			  Darlington JCP 
			  Nottingham JCP 
			  Wolverhampton JCP 
			  Hammersmith JCP 
		
	
	
		
			  City Tower JCP 
			  Grimsby JCP 
			  Morriston JCP 
			  Leicester JCP 
			  Wood Green JCP 
			  London Bridge JCP 
			  Loughton JCP 
			  Gloucester Benefit Centre 
			  Runcorn JCP 
			  Bootle Benefits Centre 
			  Peel Park Model Office 
			  Stretford JCP 
			  Eastgate JCP 
			  Derby Contact Centre 
			  Folkestone JCP 
			  Wigan JCP 
			  Warrington JCP

Jobcentre Plus: Digital Exclusion

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance his Department has issued to Jobcentre branches on prevention of digital exclusion.

Mark Hoban: Jobcentre Plus staff who deal directly with our customers have received guidance, training and communications on how to support customers in using DWP's digital services.
	This ranges from training for personal advisers on how to help customers looking for work online, to support packages for all staff so they will be confident in demonstrating to customers how to use the service.
	Staff have also been trained on how to identify the level of support the customer may require to access our services online, including identifying where an online transaction may not be appropriate. For vulnerable customers we continue to provide a telephony or face to face service.

New Enterprise Allowance

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many jobseeker's allowance claimants have received the new enterprise allowance since its introduction in (a) the UK and (b) Swindon.

Mark Hoban: The new enterprise allowance is available only in Great Britain. The following table shows the number of starts on the new enterprise allowance made by jobseeker's allowance claimants, since its introduction in April 2011, in Great Britain and Swindon.
	
		
			 New enterprise allowance mentor starts and allowance starts from April 2011 up to and including November 2012 
			  GB Swindon 
			 NEA mentor starts 31,540 110 
			 NEA allowance starts 15,210 30 
			 Source: Get Britain Working Official Statistics; figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 
		
	
	These figures are based upon official Get Britain Working Statistics which can be found here:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/pwp/pwp_gbw_feb13.pdf

Scotland

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he last met the Scottish Government Minister for Housing and Welfare; and what issues were discussed at that meeting.

Mark Hoban: The Secretary of State last met with the Scottish Minister for Housing and Welfare on 17 December 2012. The meeting was to discuss the Child Poverty Consultation, the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission and Passported Benefits.

Social Security Benefits

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many people in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland are in receipt of (i) higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance, (ii) the enhanced rate of the mobility component of personal independence payment, (iii) the war pensioners' mobility supplement and (d) the armed forces independence payment;
	(2)  how many people in (a) Birmingham, (b) Glasgow, (c) Cardiff and (d) Londonderry are in receipt of (i) the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance, (ii) the enhanced rate of the mobility component of personal independence payment, (iii) the war pensioners' mobility supplement and (iv) the armed forces independence payment.

Esther McVey: Statistics on disability living allowance split by type of mobility component can be found at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=tabtool
	Guidance for users is available at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/guidance.pdf
	The responsibility for statistics in Northern Ireland lies with the Department for Social Development (DSD) and can be found at:
	http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/index.htm
	The responsibility for statistics on war pensioners' mobility supplement lies with the Ministry of Defence and can be found at:
	http://www.dasa.mod.uk/
	Personal independence payment and the armed forces independence payment were both introduced from April 2013. Although limited data will soon start to feed through we need to wait until the Department has quality assured and meaningful figures for publication.
	The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish official statistics on personal independence payment and the armed forces independence payment from early 2014.

Social Security Benefits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how national roll-out of the benefit cap will be carried out after 15 July 2013.

Mark Hoban: The cap will be implemented nationally from 15 July, with all local authorities receiving a number of cases each day between the 15 July and the end of September, when all appropriate households will be capped.
	Consultation will continue with local authorities as lessons are learned from phased rollout to determine the most appropriate way to handle the schedule of activity over that period.

Social Security Benefits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff in his Department will be involved in administering the overall benefit cap (a) during the pilot scheme and (b) once the national roll-out has been completed.

Mark Hoban: During phased roll-out there will be 30 members of staff administering the benefit cap. Resourcing for the period following national rollout will be determined from the experiences and analysis of jive running of business and IT processes.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what data his Department (a) collects and (b) publishes about fraud.

Mark Hoban: Estimates of benefit fraud and error overpayments and underpayments, from 2005-06 to 2011-12, are published on the Department's website at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd2/index.php?page=fraud_error
	These are National Statistics and are available at the Great Britain level only. These estimates typically show overpayments and underpayments both as the monetary value of fraud and error and as a percentage of the benefit expenditure paid out in the year. Additional tables are also published showing the percentage of claims overpaid and underpaid for certain benefits, but again at the Great Britain level only:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd2/fem/fem_1112.xls
	Housing Benefits Recoveries and Fraud contains statistics relating to housing benefit fraud volumes and amounts of incorrectly overpaid benefit. It is aggregate level data received on a quarterly basis from each local authority. Data have already been released for each quarter of 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. This release includes provisional local authority level statistics for Q1 and Q2 of 2012-13 and can be found here:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/hb_ctb/recoveries_and_fraud_data/index.php?page=recoveries_and_fraud_data

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in what ways his Department assesses the return on its investment in counter-fraud activities; and what amount in wrongly-claimed benefit has been recovered in each of the last five years.

Mark Hoban: The Department assesses its return on investment from counter-fraud activities based on 1) the amount of benefit we prevent from continuing to be paid out incorrectly and 2) the amount of benefit paid out incorrectly that is subsequently recovered. The methodology used is agreed with the Office for National Statistics and the Office for Budget responsibility.
	Overpayments of benefit can occur for a variety of reasons. Not all overpayments are detected through counter fraud activities. Those overpayments that are detected through counter fraud activities are not necessarily classified as fraudulent.
	For overpayment recovery purposes a debt can only be classified as fraudulent if a customer has been convicted of an offence, admitted the offence in an interview under caution or agreed to an administrative penalty. Otherwise the debt is classified as customer error.
	The amount of wrongly claimed benefit, recovered in the last five years, broken down by fraud and customer error, is as follows:
	
		
			 £ million 
			 Financial year Fraud Customer error 
			 2008-09 25.4 167.7 
			 2009-10 28.3 178.5 
			 2010-11 34.2 201.2 
			 2011-12 42.5 240.0 
			 2012-13 49.3 253.8 
			 Total 179.7 1,041.2 
		
	
	The increase in benefit recovered is mainly due to the increase in benefit paid.

Social Security Benefits: Internet

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what services his Department offers to benefit claimants without access to the internet at home or in public libraries.

Mark Hoban: Jobcentre Plus staff can advise customers on where they can find sources of local public internet access. We have worked with local partnership organisations to provide up to date information on the services they provide. Customers will be signposted by Jobcentre Plus staff to the nearest and most suitable provision.
	In addition, the vast majority of Jobcentres now have internet access devices which customers can use to access any of DWP's online services or any other services they need to support them in their benefit claim or search for work. Staff are on hand to assist customers in using these devices if necessary.

Staff

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many days of work were carried out by officials in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies on average in each of the last five years; and what the total salary cost was of officials in each year.

Mark Hoban: The information is as follows:
	(a) The core Department does not collect statistics on how many days of work were carried out by officials. The total salary costs for officials are published in the Department's Annual Report and Accounts (staff costs note). The 2011-12 and 2010-11 reports are in the public domain at the following links:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-work-and-pensions-annual-report-and-accounts-2011-to-2012
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-work-and-pensions-annual-report-and-accounts-2010-to-2011
	The Department's Annual Report and Accounts for the years 2009-10, 2008-09 and 2007-08 will be placed in the Library.
	(b) The Department does not have any agencies. They were dissolved with effect from 3 October 2011 when their functions were returned to the core Department. With the exception of Health and Safety Executive, the Department's non-departmental public bodies do not collect statistics on how many days of work were carried out by officials. Total salary costs for officials are published in their Annual Report and Accounts. Links are provided for your convenience:
	
		
			  Web addresses 
			 Health and Safety Executive http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/ 
			   
			 Independent Living Fund http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090105201051/http://ilf.org.uk/cms_media/files/final_accounts_06fund_17jul08_website.pdf http://www.dwp.gov.uk/ilf/publications/corporate-publications/annual-reports/ 
			   
			 National Employment Savings Trust http://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestWeb/public/aboutUs/contents/library.html http://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestPublicWeb/faces/public/search/pages/simpleSearch.xhtml?search_text=NEST+Annual+Report+and+Accounts+2010-11 http://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/NestWeb/includes/public/docs/NEST-annual-report-accounts-2011-2012.PDP.pdf 
		
	
	
		
			 Pensions Ombudsman/Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman http://www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/Publications/index.aspx 
			   
			 Remploy http://www.remploy.co.uk/about-us/corporategovernance/annualreports.ashx 
			   
			 The Pensions Advisory Service http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/publications/company-documents-and-reports#report 
			   
			 The Pensions Regulator http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/about-us/annual-reports-accounts-and-plans.aspx 
		
	
	
		
			 Days of work carried out by officials in the Health and Safety Executive 
			  Number 
			 2007-08 730,268.83 
			 2008-09 756,411.93 
			 2009-10 765,972.64 
			 2010-11 759,199.36 
			 2011-12 704,296.53

Third Sector

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the policy of his Department is on payment to charitable and not-for-profit organisations for performing public services at his Department's request.

Mark Hoban: The DWP policy is in accordance with Her Majesty's Treasury's Managing Public Money. The payment mechanisms available to DWP are grant in aid where funding is provided for a longer term requirement for the services provided, grants which are available in respect of specific purchase or action and where DWP enters into a commercial contract delivering existing core objectives. As for any payments made by DWP it must be consistent with the Department's Statutory Authority and the Ambit of the Vote.
	Grant in aid to the Department's non-departmental public bodies is treated as expenditure in the core Department's Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure and as financing in the accounts of the non-departmental public bodies, credited to their reserves. It is accounted for on a cash basis.

Universal Credit: Kingston Upon Hull

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many single parent families in (a) Hull North and (b) Hull will be in receipt of universal credit by the time it is fully implemented; and how many such families will have (i) higher and (ii) lower entitlement under universal credit than the present system;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of single parents under the age of 25 expected to be in receipt of universal credit in (a) Hull and (b) Hull North constituency by the time universal credit is fully implemented.

Mark Hoban: The information requested is not available as sample sizes are too small to yield reliable results for these geographical areas.
	The impacts of universal credit are presented in the Universal Credit Impact Assessment available on the DWP website at:
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/universal-credit-wr2011-ia.pdf

Work Experience Programme: Scotland

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Scotland were involved in the Work Experience Programme benefit scheme in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what the average number of working days worked was.

Mark Hoban: The work experience scheme began in January 2011. Official statistics are available for the period January 2011 up to and including November 2012. The following table shows the number of starts in Scotland by financial year.
	
		
			 Work experience starts in Scotland by financial year for the period January 2011 up to and including November 2012. 
			 Financial year Number of starts 
			 2010-11 120 
			 2011-12 4,090 
			 2012-13 4,870 
			 Total 9,080 
			 Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Get Britain Working Official Statistics 
		
	
	These figures are based upon official Get Britain Working Statistics which can be found here:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/pwp/pwp_gbw_feb13.pdf
	Data on the average number of 'working days worked' is unavailable.

Work Programme

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many benefit sanction referrals have been made by Work programme providers in (a) South Yorkshire and (b) the UK in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many benefit sanction referrals have been made in South Yorkshire by each Work programme provider.

Mark Hoban: This specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
	Statistics on how many jobseeker's allowance (JSA) fixed length sanction referrals, where a decision has been made, were from Work programme providers in (a) South Yorkshire and (b) Great Britain from the 1 June 2011 to the 21 October 2012 can be found at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=tabtool
	Guidance for users is available at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/guidance.pdf

Work Programme

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid to Work programme providers as a result of residents in Banff and Buchan constituency being placed in employment which generated a job outcome from the inception of the Programme to the latest date for which figures are available.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid to Work programme providers as a result of residents in Perth and North Perthshire constituency being placed in employment which generated a job outcome from the inception of the Programme to the latest date for which figures are available.

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid to Work programme providers as a result of residents in Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency being placed in employment which generated a job outcome from the inception of the programme to the latest date for which figures are available.

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid to Work programme providers as a result of residents in Dundee East constituency being placed in employment which generated a job outcome from the inception of the programme to the latest date for which figures are available.

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid to Work programme providers as a result of residents in Angus constituency being placed in employment which generated a job outcome from the inception of the Programme to the latest date for which figures are available.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid to Work programme providers as a result of residents in Moray constituency being placed in employment which generated a job outcome from the inception of the Programme to the latest date for which figures are available.

Mark Hoban: The total paid to Work programme providers in the UK is £377.9 million from the start of the programme through to 30 July 2012, i.e. the period covered by the Statistical Release. Due to commercial in confidence considerations we are not able to release financial data below the national level at this time.

Work Programme

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of residents in Dundee East constituency who have been referred to the Work programme have been placed in employment which generated a job outcome since the inception of the Programme.

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of residents in Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency who have been referred to the Work programme have been placed in employment which generated a job outcome since the inception of the Programme.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of residents in Moray constituency who have been referred to the Work programme have been placed in employment which generated a job outcome since the inception of the Programme.

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of residents in Angus constituency who have been referred to the Work programme have been placed in employment which generated a job outcome since the inception of the Programme.

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of residents in Banff and Buchan constituency who have been referred to the Work programme have been placed in employment which generated a job outcome since the inception of the Programme.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of residents in Perth and North Perthshire constituency who have been referred to the Work programme have been placed in employment which generated a job outcome since the inception of the Programme.

Mark Hoban: Statistics up to 31 July 2012 on how many and what proportion of residents in Dundee East, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Moray, Angus, Banff and Buchan, and Perth and North Perthshire constituencies who have been referred to the Work Programme since its inception have been placed in employment which generated a job outcome can be found at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=tabtool
	Guidance for users is available at:
	http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/tabtools/guidance.pdf
	In order to calculate proportions the population estimates for Scotland are published by the General Register Office for Scotland and can be found at:
	http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/theme/population/estimates/mid-year/index.html

Apprentices

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has made an assessment of the value for money of the apprenticeship clauses in the Department for Work and Pensions' standard contract introduced in July 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Matthew Hancock: No such assessment has yet been made. However, apprenticeships are central to the Government's plans, and we therefore support the use of public procurement to promote the take-up of apprenticeships where appropriate. This means where such a policy represents good value for money and can be delivered in a way which is flexible, proportionate and not overly prescriptive.

Consumer Goods: Prices

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  if he will undertake research into ways to encourage private companies to avoid increasing prices of consumer goods wherever possible whilst maintaining profitability;
	(2)  what the Government's policy is on mitigating the effect on consumers of price increases made by private companies for the sole purpose of increasing profit;
	(3)  if he will consider the merits of creating incentives for private companies to provide relief for consumers by refraining from raising prices unless necessary to maintain profitability.

Jo Swinson: The Government is well aware of the pressures faced by consumers in this challenging economic climate. However, generally pricing policy is a commercial matter for the companies concerned.
	The best way of ensuring consumers get a good deal is by encouraging effective competition between firms. Where firms are behaving anti-competitively and this is leading to bad outcomes for consumers, the Office of Fair Trading has strong powers to intervene.
	Retail is a fiercely competitive sector, and pricing of consumer goods is one of the areas in which competition is at its most powerful.
	Consumers who understand their rights can play a strong part in driving market competition because they force businesses to innovate and pursue efficiency. The Government published a number of consultations last year that together proposed a fundamental reform of consumer legislation. The proposals clarify the law where it is confusing for consumers or where it has not kept pace with technological developments and contain important new protections for consumers alongside measures to lower regulatory burdens for business, all with the aim of making markets work better.
	In addition, the Government recently introduced legislation which will ban excessive payment surcharges being charged to consumers. The Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 prohibit traders from charging consumers more than the cost borne by the trader for the use of a given means of payment such as a credit card.
	The Government has also better equipped Trading Standards to take greater responsibility for consumer law enforcement by transferring central Government funding for national leadership and coordination of enforcement activity from the OFT to the National Trading Standards Board. Trading Standards are taking on responsibly for consumer code schemes and most business-facing education. Together, these measures will support business to better respond to customers, and promote those who serve customers well, while strengthening protection against poor practice.
	The Consumer Protection Partnership (CPP), formerly the Strategic Intelligence, Prevention and Enforcement Partnership, work together to share intelligence, and identify current and future issues that could adversely affect consumers. The CPP is developing an agreed mechanism for gathering, analysing and utilising relevant intelligence and information in order to highlight potential areas of consumer detriment for study and action.

Export Controls

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he takes to ensure that UK companies are not disadvantaged by export licence decisions made by UK Trade and Investment.

Michael Fallon: The Export Control Organisation (ECO) is the licensing authority for strategic exports in the United Kingdom. The ECO aims to operate an efficient, predictable and transparent licensing regime which takes account of the needs of business while ensuring that all export licence applications are rigorously assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. We do not allow commercial considerations to outweigh the need to give each case proper scrutiny and to take decisions in line with announced policy and our international obligations.
	However, where a decision is taken to refuse a licence application for a UK export, a denial notification is issued to all EU member states and, where appropriate, participating states in the relevant international export control regimes. This assists other Governments apply the ‘no-undercut’ principle where they have an essentially identical export and this helps to minimise any disadvantage to the UK exporter affected.
	Although UK Trade and Investment is not involved in the export licensing decision making process, ECO works closely with UKTI to ensure that export controls are considered at an early stage of planning major export campaigns. ECO and UKTI also work jointly to raise awareness of export controls with UK companies.

Higher Education: Admissions

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of (a) all young people in state education, (b) young people in state education with grades BBB or above at A level and (c) young people in state education with grades AAA or above at A level (i) applied as one of their UCAS choices to and (ii) were offered and accepted a place at (A) Oxford or Cambridge universities and (B) any other Russell Group university for each local authority area in England in the last three years.

David Willetts: The information is not available centrally. Data on applicants and acceptances to full-time undergraduate courses are collected by the Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS).
	UCAS have not calculated these data. Their end of cycle report for 2012, available at:
	http://www.ucas.ac.uk/about_us/media_enquiries/
	shows that acceptance rates for applicants who achieve AAA, AAB, ABB or BBB are high, around 90%. UCAS is an organisation independent from Government.

Minimum Wage

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on the future of the national minimum wage; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: The Government is committed to the national minimum wage.
	Our aim is to have a minimum wage rate that helps as many low-paid workers as possible, while making sure that we do not damage their employment prospects by setting it too high.
	I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement given by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), on 15 April 2013, Official Report, columns 1-3WS, which set out the increased minimum wage rates that will apply from 1 October 2013.
	In addition to the minimum wage, the Government is doing everything it can to help all working people on low pay with the cost of living. That is why we are cutting income tax for the low paid and taking 2.4 million people out of tax altogether.

Public Sector: Industrial Disputes

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment has he made of the incidence of bullying and harassment of employees to support public sector strike action.

Jo Swinson: No such assessment has been made. However the Government is clear that bullying and harassment of employees in the workplace is completely unacceptable.
	Legislation provides safeguards for employees against various types of harassment in the workplace (on grounds of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, etc). In addition, protection is provided by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (where intentional harassment is made a criminal offence), and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (where harassment is made a criminal offence and victims have a right to damages).
	Persons who induce employees to breach their contracts of employment (eg by taking industrial action), or are involved in intimidation or conspiracy become liable for industrial torts. Trade unions and individuals are only shielded from such liability as long as their actions with regard to an industrial dispute remain lawful ie by complying with the various statutory requirements and by picketing peacefully. Bullying and harassment in respect of industrial action is not protected, thereby exposing those involved to the possibility of injunctions and liability in tort. If a trade union becomes aware that such activities are taking place it will almost certainly repudiate them in order to maintain statutory protection.
	Government, through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), has a national helpline offering advice to both employers and employees: 0845 747 4747.

Public Sector: Procurement

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on the proposed change to Article 19 of the European directive on the procurement of contracts for public works, public supply and public service.

Jo Swinson: The European Commission, following an extensive consultation with member states has issued proposals for new directives on public procurement. The proposals represent the first wholesale revision of public procurement law in the European Union since 2004 and are aimed at modernising the legislation. Within those proposals is a change to Article 19 which relates to reserved contracts.
	Previously, contracting authorities (such as BIS) were able to go directly to organisations which employed more than 50% of disadvantaged individuals (defined in the legislation) and award a contract without competing for the requirement to achieve certain social objectives.
	The revision to Article 19 is contained within the new proposed Article 17. The significant changes are that the threshold for employees has been reduced to 30%; however, the requirement will now need to be competed for and limited to other similarly structured organisations.
	These proposals are due to be finalised during the summer of 2013 and will then need to be transposed into UK legislation (usually within 21 months). During this period BIS will need to investigate and generate a policy on how it can take advantage of the opportunity presented by these proposed changes.

Staff

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many days of work were carried out by officials in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies on average in each of the last five years; and what the total salary cost was of officials in each year.

Jo Swinson: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was formed through a Machinery of Government change that occurred in June 2009. Therefore there is no data available prior to that date.
	All civil servants employed by BIS are expected, on average, to attend for 220 working days per year. This excludes weekends, public and privilege leave and annual leave for full-time employees. The total salary costs for civil servants employed by BIS are shown in the Annual Report and Accounts which can be viewed at:
	BIS Annual Report and Accounts 2010-11:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/31935/11-p102-bis-annual-report-and-accounts-2010-11.pdf
	BIS Annual Report and Accounts 2011-12:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/corporate/docs/B/12-p102-bis-annual-report-and-accounts-2011-12
	This Department does not hold centrally the information you request concerning its non-departmental public bodies and it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	I have approached the Chief Executives of the Department's Executive Agencies (Insolvency Service, Companies House, National Measurement Office, Intellectual Property Office, UK Space Agency, Ordnance Survey, Met Office, Land Registry and the Skills Funding Agency) and they will respond to the hon. Member directly.
	Letter from Tim Moss, dated 12 April 2013
	I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled 10 April 2013, to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, UIN 151098.
	Companies House employs officials on contracts that cover a wide variety of working patterns, and a breakdown of the number of days worked by officials for each of the last five years could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The total salary cost of officials working for Companies House is contained in our annual reports, which are published on our website at:
	http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/corporateDocuments.shtml
	Letter from John Alty, dated 15 April 2013
	I am responding in respect of the Intellectual Property Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled 10th April 2013, to the Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is the Operating name of The Patent Office and an Executive Agency of BIS.
	All civil servants employed by the IPO are expected, on average, to attend for 220 working days per year. This excludes weekends, public and privilege leave and annual leave for full-time employees. The total salary costs for civil servants employed by the IPO are shown in the Annual Report and Accounts which can be viewed at:
	The Patent Annual Report and Accounts 2010-11:
	http://www.ipo.gov.uk/about-anrep1011.pdf
	The Patent Annual Report and Accounts 2011 -12:
	http://www.ipo.gov.uk/about-anrep1112.pdf
	Letter from David Parker, dated 12 April 2013
	Thank you for your question addressed to the Secretary of State for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills asking how many days of work were carried out by officials in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies on average in each of the last five years; and what the total salary cost was of officials in each year.
	The UK Space Agency became an Executive Agency of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills on the 1st April 2011.
	All civil servants employed by the UK Space Agency are expected, on average, to attend for 220 working days per year. This excludes weekends, public and privilege leave and annual leave. The total salary costs for civil servants employed by the UK Space Agency are shown in the Annual Report and Accounts which can be viewed at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/ukspaceagency/publications
	Letter from Peter Mason, dated 15 April 2013
	I am responding in respect of the National Measurement Office (NMO) to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 10 April 2013, asking the Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) about the average number of days of work officials carried out in each of the last five years, and their total salary cost in each year.
	A breakdown of the number of days worked by NMO officials for each of the last five years could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The total salary costs for civil servants employed by NMO are shown in the Annual Report and Accounts which can be viewed as follows:
	NMO Annual Report and Accounts 2011-12:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/nmo/docs/about-us/key-docs/nmo-annual-report-and-accounts-2011-12-website-version.pdf
	NMO Annual Report and Accounts 2010-11:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/nmo/docs/about-us/key-docs/nmo-annual-report-and-accounts-2010-11-website-version.pdf
	Letter from Jon Cocking, dated 15 April 2013
	I write on behalf of Land Registry in response to Parliamentary Question 151098 tabled on 10 April 2013 which asked the following:
	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many days of work were carried out by officials in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies on average in each of the last five years; and what the total salary cost was of officials in each year.
	Land Registry has been an Executive Agency of BIS since July 2011.
	All employees of Land Registry are expected, on average, to attend for 220 working days per year. This excludes weekends, public holidays and annual leave for full-time employees. The total salary costs for employees of Land Registry are shown in the Annual Reports and Accounts which can be viewed at:
	Land Registry Annual Report and Accounts 2010-11:
	http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/1754/Annual_Report_1011.pdf
	Land Registry Annual Report and Accounts 2011-12:
	http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/12710/Annual-Report-2011_12-web.pdf
	I hope you find this information useful.
	Letter from Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB, dated 16 April 2013
	As Director General and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey, I have been asked to respond to your Parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, “how many days of work were carried out by officials in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies on average in each of the last five years; and what the total salary cost was of officials in each year”.
	The average number of days worked by each of Ordnance Survey's full-time members of staff in each of the past five years was as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2007-08 220 
			 2008-09 220 
			 2009-10 220 
			 2010-11 219 
			 2011-12 219 
		
	
	These figures take into account weekends, annual leave, public holidays and privilege days.
	The total salary cost in each year was as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 2007-08 40.85 
			 2008-09 41.48 
			 2009-10 38.97 
			 2010-11 36.52 
			 2011-12 35.45 
		
	
	I hope this information is helpful.
	Letter from Dr Richard Judge, dated 16 April 2013
	The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has asked me to reply to your question, how many days of work were carried out by officials in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies on average in each of the last five years; and what the total salary cost was of officials in each year.
	All civil servants employed by The Insolvency Service are expected, on average, to attend for 220 working days per year. This excludes weekends, public and privilege leave and annual leave for full-time employees.
	The total salary costs for civil servants employed by The Insolvency Service are shown in the Agency's Annual Reports, which can be viewed at:
	The Insolvency Annual Report 2007-08:
	http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc0708/hc08/0800/0800.pdf
	The Insolvency Annual Report 2008-09:
	http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc0809/hc06/0623/0623.pdf
	The Insolvency Annual Report 2009-10:
	http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc1011/hc02/0236/0236.pdf
	The Insolvency Annual Report 2010-11:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32579/1388.pdf
	The Insolvency Annual Report 2011-12:
	http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc1213/hc03/0358/0358.pdf
	Letter from Nick Jobling, dated 16 April 2013
	I am replying on behalf of the Chief Executive of the Met Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 10 April 2013, UIN 151098 to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	The average number of days worked and the total salary cost for Met Office staff in each of the last 5 years are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  2011-12 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 
			 Total salary cost (£000) 58,487 58,507 58,434 55,847 51,721 
			 Average working days per full time equivalent(1) 215 215 216 215 215 
			 (1) Excluding weekends, bank holidays, leave entitlements and average working days lost. 
		
	
	I hope this helps.
	Letter from Kim Thorneywork, dated 12 April 2013
	Thank you for your question addressed to the Secretary of State for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills asking how many days of work were carried out by officials in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies on average in each of the last five years; and what the total salary cost was of officials in each year.
	The Skills Funding Agency formed in 2010 therefore data has been provided from this period onwards.
	All civil servants employed by the Skills Funding Agency are expected, on average, to attend for 221 working days per year. This excludes weekends, bank holidays and annual leave. The total salary costs for civil servants employed by the Skills Funding Agency are shown in the Annual Report and Accounts which can be viewed at:
	http://skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk/publications/

UK Trade and Investment

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will outsource responsibility of exports from UKTI to a private sector company for three years in order to make an assessment of UKTI's comparative performance.

Michael Fallon: UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) already outsources responsibility for a large and increasing share of its export services. Services currently outsourced include the UK based advisory services provided by teams of international trade advisers in the English regions, the Export Marketing Research Scheme and the Export Communications Review service. Seven years of performance and impact monitoring data for these services are available in a consistent and comparable form, allowing robust comparison over time. Time series for these data are published for each service in the quarterly and annual reports on the Performance and Impact Monitoring Survey (PIMS), available on the UKTI website (www.ukti.gov.uk) at:
	http://www.ukti.gov.uk/uktihome/aboutukti/ourperformance/performanceimpactandmonitoringsurvey/quarterlysurveys.html
	In addition, UKTI is currently in the process of extending the range of services which are outsourced by contracting out primary responsibility for delivering export related events. The contractual arrangements will provide for robust monitoring of performance and impact through the same PIMS process which is currently used to monitor performance of UKTI supported events. This will allow for robust comparison of performance of events under the new arrangements with that of events delivered under previous arrangements.
	A recent independent evaluation of the commercial services delivered by the network of UKTI teams in UK embassies and consulates overseas(1 )investigated the scope for further private sector engagement in these services. The final report included a recommendation to explore the opportunities for selective outsourcing, which UKTI has accepted.
	The full report and UKTI response are available on the UKTI website at:
	http://www.ukti.gov.uk/uktihome/aboutukti/ourperformance/evaluation/comparativeandcrosscutting.html
	(1 )London Economics (2011) Evaluation of the commercial services provided by UK Trade and Investment's overseas network.

Ultra Electronics

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 13 March 2013, Official Report, column 221W, on Ultra Electronics, what the purpose was of the meetings between Mr Douglas Caster and Lord Green and other members of the Middle East Task Force; and if he will place a copy of the minutes of those meetings in the Library.

Michael Fallon: The Middle East Task Force is a business-led informal stakeholder group, providing a forum for high level discussion on strategic issues and opportunities relating to Britain's business interests in the Middle East. The membership comprises senior representatives from business and institutions. My Noble Friend the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, chairs the Task Force and Mr Douglas Caster is a member. Minutes of the Middle East Task Force are recorded but not published. To publish such records would not be in the public interest as it would be likely to prejudice the free and frank advice that Ministers receive from officials and external bodies.

Vocational Training

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to his Department's report, Rigour and Responsiveness in Skills, published in April 2013, whether there will be set points in the academic year at which risks in colleges will be assessed.

Matthew Hancock: Ofsted inspections happen at any time and could lead to risks in colleges being assessed, specifically if colleges are graded as requiring improvement or inadequate. The current routine assessments of the risks in Colleges brought together regularly across the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department for Education, the Skills Funding Agency, the Education Funding Agency and Ofsted will in future also involve the new FE Commissioner when they are appointed as appropriate. These will be based on a structured review taking place on at least a quarterly basis and more frequently when that is felt to be needed.

Accident and Emergency Departments

George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what his policy is on procedures for immuno-suppressed patients entering hospital accident and emergency departments;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of five-year survival rates for immuno-suppressed patients in (a) the UK, (b) other European countries and (c) the United States.

Norman Lamb: Hospitals are responsible for ensuring that they have procedures in place for managing immuno-suppressed patients entering accident and emergency departments and minimising the risks of patients developing infections. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence issued updated guidance on the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections in primary and community care in March 2012, and also issue guidance on dealing with specific immuno-suppressive treatments.
	The information on five-year survival rates for immuno-suppressed patients in the UK, other European countries and the United States is not collected or held centrally by the Department.

Ambulance Services

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what powers he has to remove members of ambulance service NHS trusts.

Anna Soubry: The Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has delegated his powers to remove members of a national health service trust's board to the NHS Trust Development Authority (NTDA). The NTDA can invoke Secretary of State's intervention and default powers where a trust is not carrying out its functions properly, for instance in the case of immediate quality or safety breakdown. The powers include suspension and replacement of chair, and any or all directors including executive directors. The NTDA can also trigger the unsustainable provider regime (UPR) where a trust is in distress. The UPR entails the suspension and replacement of the trust's Board by a trust special administrator.
	The NTDA also has powers to terminate the appointment of Chairs and non-executive directors of. an NHS trust if a person is bankrupt, has a criminal conviction involving a prison sentence of three months or more, or has been dismissed from paid health service employment other than redundancy. The NTDA may also disqualify such persons from being a chair or non executive director.

Antibiotics

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department uses the definition of treatment and prevention set out in the questions and answers document EMA/CVMP/414812/2005 on the Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products guideline on the Summary Product Characteristics for antimicrobial products EMEA/CVMP/SAGAM/383441/2005, providing clearer guidance on the indication treatment and prevention.

Norman Lamb: The Department of Health and the Medicines and the Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) do not use the definitions from the Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products Guidelines EMA/CVMP/414812/2005 and EMEA/CVMP/SAGAM/383441/2005 on the Summary Product Characteristics for antimicrobial products. This is because they concern treatment and prevention of diseases in animals and do not fall within the remit of the MHRA.
	Under these guidelines the term “treatment” refers to the treatment of an individual animal, or a group of animals showing clinical signs of an infectious disease.
	The term “prevention” refers to the administration of the product at the same time to other in-contact animals, to prevent them from developing clinical signs, and to prevent further spread of the disease. The presence of the disease in the group/flock must be established before the product is used.
	This is the remit of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
	A copy of the documents mentioned has been placed in the Library.

Blood: Contamination

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give consideration to issuing a formal acknowledgement that the contamination of NHS blood products 30 years ago was the responsibility of the then Government.

Anna Soubry: This Government has previously said how sorry it is that these events occurred, and has expressed deep regret for the pain and misery that many have suffered as a result, 10 January 2011, Official Report, column 33W. I would like to re-iterate those sentiments.

Blood: Contamination

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to mark 2013 as the 30th anniversary of the first haemophiliac fatality attributed to contaminated NHS-supplied blood products.

Anna Soubry: There are no plans to mark 2013 as the 30th anniversary of the first haemophiliac fatality attributed to contaminated NHS-supplied blood products. This Government has already said how sorry it is that this happened, and has expressed deep regret for the pain and misery that many have suffered as a result.

Chemotherapy

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether a diagnostic test which assesses the need for chemotherapy for breast cancer patients will be commissioned within the specialised commissioning budget.

Anna Soubry: The suitability of a diagnostic for specialised commissioning would be a matter for NHS England.
	The National institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is consulting on draft diagnostic guidance on tests to assess the suitability of chemotherapy in certain breast cancer patients. It is anticipated that the final guidance ‘Gene expression profiling and expanded immunohistochemistry tests to guide the use of adjuvant chemotherapy in early breast cancer management: MammaPrint, Oncotype DX, IHC4 and Mammostrat’ will be published in September 2013. The guidance can be found on the NICE website at:
	www.nice.org.uk
	by typing ‘gene expression profiling’ into the search bar.

Dementia

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has a dementia strategy.

Norman Lamb: ‘Living well with dementia: a national dementia strategy’, was published by the Department of Health in 2009.
	In March 2012, the Prime Minister's challenge on dementia was published with the ambition of building on the national dementia strategy to deliver improvements in health and care, create dementia-friendly communities and ensure better research into dementia. Copies of both documents have already been placed in the Library.
	In November 2012, the groups published ‘Delivering major improvements in dementia care and research by 2015: a report of progress’. We expect to publish an annual report on progress in May 2013.

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what guidance his Department has issued to encourage prescribers to follow a recovery-based approach to treatment since the publication of the National Drug Strategy;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on substance misuse to deliver recovery outcomes for patients.

Anna Soubry: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued a suite of drug treatment guidelines published between 2007 and 2008 which highlighted a range of evidence-based interventions which can help people recover from drug-dependence. NICE guidance represents best practice and we expect commissioners and clinicians to take it fully into account in their decision-making.
	The 2010 Drug Strategy recognised that "Recovery can only be delivered through working with education, training, employment, housing, family support services, wider health services and, where relevant, prison, probation and youth justice services to address the needs of the whole person."
	The Department tasked a Recovery Orientated Drug Treatment Expert Group led by Professor John Strang (National Addiction Centre) to look at how to meet the ambition of the 2010 Drug Strategy to help more heroin users to recover and break free of dependence. Their 2012 report, “Medications in recovery: Re-orientating drug dependence treatment” makes clear that heroin users should not be maintained on substitute drugs, such as methadone, without regular review. It also sets out practical steps that local areas can take to increase the recovery orientation of their local treatment systems.

Haemolytic Uremic Syndrome

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that the health of people with atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) are not disadvantaged by his Department's decision to refer to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence the evaluation of cost, benefit and affordability of eculizumab for the treatment of aHUS in England.

Norman Lamb: Until the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has completed its evaluation of eculizumab under its highly specialised technologies programme, arrangements have been put in place to ensure existing patients previously funded by primary care trusts will continue to receive eculizumab following the transferral of responsibility for specialised commissioning to NHS England from 1 April 2013.
	NHS England is also developing a single process for considering new funding requests for this drug in the period prior to the completion of NICE's evaluation.

Health Services

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that patient groups are involved in the design of the procurement tenders by NHS trusts.

Daniel Poulter: The NHS Standards of Procurement which were published in May 2012, and are due to be refreshed in May 2013, were issued as guidance for trusts on how to improve their procurement performance. One of the Standard's includes the development of ‘user groups’ for clinical goods and services, which should in some cases include patient representation. It is the individual trusts that will decide when and under what circumstances this is appropriate and how to involve patient groups.

Human Papillomavirus

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many yellow card reports for the drug Cerverix were received by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in (a) 2009, (b) 2010, (c) 2011 and (d) 2012.

Norman Lamb: Reports of 'suspected' adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are collected by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Commission for Human Medicines (CHM) through the spontaneous reporting scheme, the Yellow Card scheme. The scheme collects suspected ADR reports from the whole of the United Kingdom in relation to all medicines and vaccines. Reporting to the Yellow Card scheme is voluntary for healthcare professionals and members of the public. There is however also a legal obligation for pharmaceutical companies to report all serious ADRs for their products that they are aware of.
	Between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2012 the MHRA has received a total of 5,125 United Kingdom spontaneous suspected ADR reports in association with Cervarix and the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine where the brand was not specified. The following table provides a breakdown of these reports by year.
	
		
			 Receipt year Number of reports 
			 2009 1,912 
			 2010 1,794 
			 2011 1,069 
			 2012 350 
			 Total 5125 
		
	
	It is important to note that Yellow Card reports are not proof of a side effect occurring but only a suspicion by the reporter that the vaccine may have caused the side effect. Yellow Card reports may therefore relate to true side effects of the vaccine, or they may be due to coincidental illnesses that would have occurred in the absence of vaccination.
	As with all vaccines and medicines, the MHRA continues to closely monitor the safety of HPV vaccines using all available sources of data with advice from the CHM. The benefits of HPV vaccination in protecting against cervical cancer far outweigh any known side effects.

Leukaemia

Mark Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he has taken to ensure that those diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia have access to a wide range of treatment options, including Dasatinib’
	(2)  what recent discussions he has had to ensure that those diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia have access to a wide range of treatment options, including Dasatinib.

Norman Lamb: The Mandate to NHS England clearly states the need to improve access to treatment for people when they need it.
	The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued technology appraisal guidance that recommends the drugs imatinib and nilotinib for use in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia. NICE guidance does not recommend dasatinib as a clinically and cost-effective use of national health service resources.
	Commissioners are under a statutory obligation to provide funding for such treatments and drugs recommended by NICE within three months of the guidance being published.
	Patients have a right under the NHS Constitution to clinically appropriate drugs and treatments recommended by NICE technology appraisal guidance.
	Since October 2010, the £650 million Cancer Drugs Fund has helped over 28,000 patients in England to access the drugs their clinicians believe will help them. NHS England has now taken on oversight of the fund, bringing even greater consistency to decision making.
	The Secretary of State for Health, the right hon. Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has had no recent discussions about this matter.

Medicine: Research

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to encourage pharmaceutical companies to carry out clinical research in the UK.

Daniel Poulter: The Department is working with other Government Departments and engaging with the life sciences industry, including the pharmaceutical industry, to ensure that the country has the best possible environment to carry out clinical research.
	The Department has made good progress in implementing its research-related measures in the “Plan for Growth” (2011). Furthermore, the joint “Department for Business, Innovation and Skills/Department of Health Strategy for UK Life Sciences” (2011) includes a range of initiatives which together aim to support: building a life sciences ecosystem, attracting, developing and rewarding the best talent, and overcoming barriers and creating incentives for the promotion of health care innovation. The Strategy highlighted the importance of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), funded by the Department, for supporting life sciences industry research.
	Through the NIHR, the Department is funding a range of infrastructure facilities including biomedical research centres and units to undertake collaborative translational research with industry, two translational research partnerships which support industry to work with the national health service and academia on a shared risk/shared reward basis, the NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure which facilitates collaborations between the NIHR-funded infrastructure and funders of research including industry, and the Clinical Research Network which supports the delivery of commercial and non-commercial studies and provides dedicated support for the life sciences industry.
	The Department established the Health Research Authority (HRA) in December 2011 to protect and promote the interests of patients and the public in health research. The HRA is working with others to streamline health research approvals and to promote consistent, proportionate standards for compliance and inspection helping to make the United Kingdom a more attractive place to undertake research.
	The Government has also introduced incentives at a local level for the initiation and delivery of research. Since autumn 2011, all new NIHR contracts include a benchmark of 70 days or less to recruit the first patient to a study and a requirement to report on delivery of research to time and target. By encouraging an improvement in performance in initiating and delivering research by the NHS, the Government intends to enhance the nation's attractiveness as a host for research.
	The Government also welcomes the European Commission's proposal for a Clinical Trials Regulation to replace the Clinical Trials Directive (Directive 2001/20/EC). The Government considers that the proposal has the potential to create a more favourable environment for the conduct of clinical trials in the UK and across the European Union, making it easier to conduct trials in multiple member states. The Government is participating in negotiations across member states on the text of the Regulation.
	Other steps the Department has taken include the creation of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink providing access to anonymised patient records to support clinical trials, tools to support faster contracting such as model agreements and standard costing templates, and support to the NHS to help it improve performance for example through the Research Support Services framework.

NHS: Reorganisation

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital trusts are subject to merger.

Anna Soubry: Foundation trusts are autonomous organisations and Monitor have been formally consulted in relation to the proposed mergers for Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch NHS Foundation Trust and Poole NHS Foundation Trust; Medway NHS Foundation Trust with Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust; Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Princess Royal Hospital (part of South London NHS Trust).
	The Trust Development Authority (TDA) is currently assessing the 2013-14 plans submitted by all NHS trusts. There are a number of NHS trusts where the current working assumption is that some organisational transaction, including the merger model, is likely to be required to support securing high quality services for local people. These are:
	Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust
	Ealing Hospital NHS Trust
	Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust
	George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust
	North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust
	North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust
	North West London Hospitals NHS Trust
	Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust
	South London Healthcare NHS Trust (new organisational form instigated via the unsustainable provider regime)
	West Middlesex University NHS Trust
	Weston Area Health NHS Trust
	Subject to the TDA determining that these NHS trusts will proceed upon an organisational transaction, there will then be a number of stages to effect the change including the necessary stakeholder consultation.

NHS: Work Experience

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for which healthcare professionals his Department is considering the introduction of compulsory work experience before they receive NHS funding for their training.

Daniel Poulter: The initial Government response to the report of The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, “Patient's First and Foremost”, outlines how pilot schemes will be developed; primarily for potential nursing students, to undertake up to a year's work placement as a healthcare assistant to better prepare them for the demands of a national health service funded training programme and subsequent career as part of the NHS workforce.
	Health Education England, the new national body responsible for NHS workforce development and training, are currently working with key partners to develop a pilot programme.

Northern Ireland

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with the Health Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive.

Anna Soubry: The Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter), along with officials from the Department, met with the Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning), on 4 February.
	Officials from the Department discuss a wide variety of policy areas with colleagues in Northern Ireland as appropriate. These policy areas include rare diseases, genomics/genetics, immunisation and sexual health.

Nurses

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he plans to take to provide employment opportunities in the NHS to accommodate the expected increase in short-term healthcare assistants once changes to nursing training are introduced.

Daniel Poulter: Health Education England will initially be piloting pre degree work experience. Evaluation from the pilots will indicate any impacts on the health care support worker workforce.

Opiates

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of (a) the relative mortality risks and (b) the relative risks associated with misuse and diversion of the use of methadone and buprenorphine in medically assisted treatment for opioid dependence.

Anna Soubry: It is the role of each responsible clinician to decide which drug is clinically most appropriate for the treatment for opioid dependence following careful assessment of, and discussion with each client. It expected that these decisions should be in line with clinical guidance. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines recommended the use of both methadone and buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid dependence, but made clear the need for clinicians, to make sure that each patient is aware of all the risks associated with this treatment, both to themselves and to others.
	Clinical guidelines for drug treatment recommend that most new patients being prescribed methadone or buprenorphine should take their daily doses supervised by a pharmacist (or other professional) for around three months. One of the key reasons for this practice is to reduce diversion of substitute drugs into the illegal market. It has also been shown to reduce drug-related deaths. The responsible clinician can decide to relax, stop, or re-start supervised consumption depending on their patient's progress in tackling their drug dependency.

Organs: Donors

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) liver, (b) heart and (c) kidney donations have been made to private patients from (i) across the UK, (ii) EU nations and (iii) non-EU nations at King's College Hospital in the last five years.

Anna Soubry: This information is not collected centrally.
	The offering process for organs donated in the United Kingdom is specified in NHS Directions, given to NHS Blood and Transplant by the Secretary of State, specifically in paragraph four of the NHS Blood and Transplant (2005) Directions and associated guidance.
	All organs donated in the UK are first offered to national health service-entitled patients based on clinical need. This means people who are ordinarily resident in the UK; that is people who are lawfully living in the UK voluntarily and for settled purpose as part of their regular order of their life. It may also include certain persons who are entitled under European Union law and residents of non-European Union countries with whom the UK has bilateral health agreements.
	Only if the organs are rejected by all designated transplant units for NHS-entitled patients are organs then offered to non-NHS entitled patients.
	Once entitlement is established and the organ allocated, arrangements may be made for the actual surgery to be undertaken on a private basis. The Buggins review ‘Allocation of Organs to Non-UK EU Residents’, published in July 2009, found no evidence that people having their transplant as a private patient were allocated an organ more quickly.
	Donated organs save lives, and while priority is given to NHS entitled patients, when there is no such patient for an organ the use of it for a non-NHS entitled patient is allowed in order to save a life and avoid the organ being wasted.
	My hon. Friend may wish to seek further information from Kings College Hospital directly.

Paramedical Staff

Therese Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will add paramedic and paramedic trainers to those eligible for the NHS Bursary Scheme.

Daniel Poulter: The NHS bursary scheme was established to provide support to students undertaking courses leading to professional registration. Paramedic trainers would not currently meet this criteria so can not be considered for a NHS bursary.
	The Department has implemented an annual process to enable consideration of new professions who wish to be included in the NHS bursary scheme. Paramedic practice is one of the professions currently being considered and we expect to take a decision on this shortly.
	The Council of the College of Paramedics has commissioned a project which will include the development of a business case for fair access to funding support. This will inform the decisions about whether paramedic students should receive a bursary.

Prostate Cancer

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many clinical nurses specialising in prostate cancer there are in each clinical commissioning group.

Daniel Poulter: The current number of specialist prostate cancer nurses employed by the national health service is not collected centrally and is not available at clinical commissioning group level.
	The latest census data as at 30 September 2012 were published on 21 March and are available from the Health and Social Care Information Centre at:
	www.hscic.gov.uk/
	The census does not identify specialist prostate cancer nurses separately but does identify qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff employed by the NHS.
	The Government has supported the development of a range of specialist roles within nursing. It is for local NHS organisations with their knowledge of the health care needs of their local population to invest in training for specialist skills and to deploy specialist nurses. In this context, the Government recognises that more should be done by some local health care organisations to prioritise preventative care and better support for patients in their own homes and communities. Specialist nurses can play an important role in this which can both save the NHS money and, more importantly, provide better care for patients.

Radiotherapy

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 13 March 2013, Official Report, column 248W, on radiotherapy, whether the National Institute for Health Research is funding any stereotactic body radiotherapy clinical trials.

Daniel Poulter: Through the National Institute for Health Research's (NIHR) Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme, the NIHR has commissioned a seven-year trial of stereotactic radiotherapy for wet age-related macular degeneration.
	The UK Clinical Research Network has supported a study of intensity-modulated radiotherapy using a Tomotherapy Hi Art machine funded by the Royal College of Radiologists, which is currently in follow-up.
	The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including stereotactic body radiotherapy. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition.

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to tackle increases in the number of those over 50 years who have sexually transmitted diseases; and what steps he is taking to educate that generation on good sexual health practices.

Anna Soubry: The Government's ambition for sexual health is set out in its Framework for Sexual Health Improvement in England. This makes clear the importance of good sexual health and well-being for people of all ages and across the life course. The Framework acknowledges the increase in sexually transmitted infections in those over 50 years and stresses the importance of this age group understanding how to protect themselves against risks that may affect their sexual health. From 1 April 2013, the majority of sexual health services become the responsibility of local authorities. Each local authority will commission sexual health services based upon the needs of its community, including services which meet the needs of people aged over 50.

Social Services

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  when he last met the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to discuss better integration of health and social care;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect of reductions in adult social care provision on hospital admissions; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: Since he joined the Department on 4 September 2012, the Secretary of State for Health, the right hon. Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has had no meetings with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the right hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr Pickles), to discuss better integration of health and social care. However, meetings have taken place between the two Departments at official level.
	We have made no assessment of the relationship between adult social care provision and the number of hospital admissions. We know that the last Spending Review provided local government with a challenging settlement. This is why we took the decision to prioritise adult social care by allocating substantial additional funding, up to £1 billion per annum by 2014-15 within the national health service, to specifically benefit social care and improve health outcomes. In addition, we have made additional investments in priority services such as £300 million per annum between 2012 and 2015 for reablement services, and a £100 million one-off allocation to primary care trusts in December 2012, for transfer to local authorities to help reduce delayed transfers of care.
	Health and Wellbeing Boards will provide local system leadership through integrating local commissioning and overseeing the development of local joint health and wellbeing strategies, which set out what the NHS and local authorities can do individually and collectively to deliver seamless care, improve outcomes and reduce health inequalities.

Tobacco: Retail Trade

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost to date has been of the consultation on standardised packaging for tobacco products; and what the cost was of each previous consultation on this subject.

Anna Soubry: The “Consultation on standardised packaging of tobacco products” ran between April and August 2012. There were many thousands of responses to the consultation and a summary report will be published in due course.
	Information is not collected on the cost of Departmental staff time associated with this consultation. The following additional costs are directly relevant to the standardised packaging consultation:
	typesetting and printing the consultation document—£4,563 (excluding VAT);
	translating the consultation document into four languages—£2,153 (excluding VAT); and
	analysis of the consultation responses—£50,000 (excluding VAT).
	There have not been any previous consultations on standardised packaging, although it was included as one aspect of the wide ranging 2008 “Consultation on the future of tobacco control”.